Grange Farm – 21st March 2010

Well it appears spring is upon us finally as yesterday was the first sunny days airsoft this year. Temperatures crept up and made it very warm running around as I was still wearing many layers expecting it to be cold.

All that can be really summed up from yesterdays game was that water is essential. At Grange Farm, carrying drink for during a game isn’t to much of a big deal because the games are usually short 30minute to an hour affairs but drinking during the breaks is very much needed. I forgot to take water yesterday and regretted it by having to purchase drinks all day.

The games yesterday were a good mix of attack and defend type games. The scorpion made an appearance and made a few kills which was great fun as always. The AK74SU came out and was used as the AK74S is still not shooting above 220fps. Need to find a gun smith to fix it as I’m useless with gearboxes and don’t want to break it more than it already is!

Tags: Airsoft, AK74, drink, grange farm, scorpion

Next Game – Fearful Silence 23rd January

This will be my first game of the new year and will be a chance to try out a new site.

It so happens I am doing an interview in Leeds the day before this and so a short stay over with a friend and then on the Saturday I’ll be trying Fearful Silence. The game site looks to be good and there seems to be a reasonable number of players so it’ll be nice to try somewhere new.

Due to some upgrades on my main AK, I’m reduced to using my AK74S but this shouldn’t be an issue as recently it has been outranging the longer AK74. I’ll mention more on the upgrades when I get it back from the gunsmith.

Tags: Airsoft, fearful silence, sites

(Very!) Late GZ Weekender Run Down

OK, so a very late Weekender post! I’ve been carried away at work since I went to this so thought it was about time to mention it!

I arrived reasonably early on the Friday afternoon – probably about 2ish thanks to staying with family who lived locally. My first pain was finding the site – the satnav directions posted on ASCUK for the even told me to turn off the junction BEFORE the event and ended up directing me to a housing estate – not good.

However I made it and was then initially impressed at how the layout and the organisation had improved over the 4 years I hadn’t attended. The top field which we had once all camped in was now given over to the smooth running of the event – toilets, a fully licensed bar, a shop, the signing in tents and food vendors. Unsurprisingly it was all needed to cater for the many, many people attending (1,200+!)

Finding our campsite I started setting up camp and getting into the spirit of the weekend – chatting to my mates and meeting new people – unlike previous events as well there seemed to be a roaring second hand trade going on with people displaying any extra items to sell in front of tents as unlike my previous event 4 years ago, there was more moving about and chatting between teams and players.

Game Day

Saturday marked the start of the weekends games – all the players had signed up onto teams when playing and thus the 3 teams made their way to the morning safety brief at which point a plane flew over distributing propaganda leaflets! This had been planned by some of the players attending and because of this, they were given bonus points and the game hadn’t even started!

The games revolved around roving around the game site (huge game site!) trying to find items and also holding various positions at various times – points were also gathered from shooting “intel” holders and retrieving the intel they had. Base attacks were quite common.

The site is fantastic – for the first half of the morning our team held a ridge against enemy attacks as we struggled to hold to the hill for our first objective. We managed it and then successfully pulled out, netting our team some nice points. However I remember the afternoon games very much less organised – I got cut off and killed from my team mates and thus spent the rest of the day with other members of my overall team (rather than my mates who I’d been with all morning). I spent a fair amount of time dead in the afternoon – 10 minute breaks in the dead zones were actually quite a relief!

Night Game

I briefly did one night game, before feeling very ill and retiring to bed. For this I used my Scorpion and did the entire night game with just a scorpion and a small bread bag as webbing – nothing much else was needed! These games were single shot only which some players gave up and walked off when they found this out. However it was for safety concerns and I reckon it was a good choice. The games were much smaller – not everyone played the night games and those that did were split into 6 groups to play at 6 different sections of the site before being rotated around the site.

I got to use my JG Tracer unit and was very impressed with it. Yes it did give my position away with muzzle flash but it was well worth it. The single shot rule was a good rule as I managed to “bang” kill an opponent – as he turned away he knocked my scorpion which was pointed at him – he’d was close enough that I could tap him on the should when I banged him!

Sundays Game

Sundays game was brief – I left early as I had slept badly the night before but I played the mornings game which was very tense – I spent the morning defending the village with pretty much our entire team!

Overall the weekend was a great success. The games were a lot more organised than the previous event I attended and there was far less cheating than before (in fact I saw none this time!) which is much better.  Interesting to note that shotguns were a viable alternative to AEG’s in various parts of the site and it was interesting to see the number of players using shotguns!

I think it’s well worth a trip if you want to attend a massive weekend!

Tags: Airsoft, ground zero, Reviews, weekender

Duxford Airshow "Flying Legends" and Museum – 11th July 2009

I spent the weekend down in Cambridge with an old housemate from university and on the Saturday, we went to the Duxford airshow.

It was the first airshow that either of us had been to and also the first time either of us had been to the Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford. Thankfully the weather held out for us and it was a great day and many others appeared to agree!

The theme of the show was “Flying Legends” and  thus the planes were of the Second World War era and before and was an amazing display of old planes.

Day Events

We got to Duxford reasonably early – about 11 when the show started at 2. This allowed us to look around the various stalls, living history groups and  the museum itself.

Starting with the museum, it has some fantastic planes in, mainly British and American. The dominating scene in one hanger is a B52 and in the other, the dominating plane is one of the Concorde (and one of my favourite planes, the Vulcan).  The Concorde is one of the pre commercial flight ones (the third one I’ve seen, the other two being at Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm museum in Wiltshire (this displays the first ever Concorde) and the other in New York in the Intrepid Sea, Air Space Museum)

Then flying show wise, we were treated to some amazing aircraft, the best on display being a total of 7 Spitfires! This display also had a Focke Wulf 190 which had the most amazing engine sound and a Messerschmitt Bf 109.

We were also treated to an amazing display by the Aerostars, a formation flying team that fly Russian (ok, Soviet) Yaks. An amazing display, but unfortunately my camera decided to not work for most of this section. That and I was amazed so I didn’t take many photos at this point!

Lessons Learned

Being our first airshow, neither of us knew what to expect.  However after spending the day there, we learnt a few lessons! Firstly, you’ll probably want a fold out seat. You may not get a great view at all times sitting down all the time but standing up for 4 hours straight can be tiring! You wouldn’t think it until you try it.

Second, take cash. Stupidly I didn’t take any cash and couldn’t use my cards – mistake!

Thirdly and lastly, sunglasses. Even if it’s overcast, it can be hard on the eyes to look at the planes. We struggled to watch some of the planes fly full circuit because of the sun behind clouds.

Unfortunately, it was an experiece that is hard to sum up in words and pictures and you have to attend to really get the best from. However a few of my better pictures are shown above.

Tags: military, Reviews

Grange Farm Airsoft – After Action Report – 17-05-09

Well, a very rainy and moist day! Also one of the first (if not the first) time I’ve not completed a whole days airsofting!

I’ve recently moved to Loughborough to work at the University. When I moved I was pleased to see an airsoft site just off the next junction down on the M1. A bit of research said that Grange Farm airsoft had achieved a 5 star rating in the slightly suspect Airsoft International magazine (various reasons why this magazine is terrible can be found online). This led me to take this with a pinch of salt but to have a site less than 30 minutes away seems rare and well worth checking out.

Initial Impressions and Gameplay

Arriving at the site, there seemed to be plenty of players for the day and having arrived a bit later, I used my car to setup up from but they did have a large-ish safe room with tables and chairs. Green fees were cheap at £20 for the day (with a members reduction) and much to my surprise, the fees included a bacon roll for breakfast!

Safety brief and the like done, we moved onto the first game of the day. For this, our team had to attack a dug in enemy whop had the benefit of higher ground and decent cover. We managed to break the enemy in a reasonable time, us having unlimited regens and them having 2 medic lives then out.
During this game the rain came and drenched everything and everyone.

The second game was a longer game to last until lunch. Our team now had to escort a hostage to a “city”, drop him off there then continue to our rescue zone. We proceeded to the “city” (two caravans) successfully and without contact but trying to get to the rescue zone, we got bogged down and struggled to make headway. However we finally made it with some help from the marshalls (over half of our team were hire guns/first timers) and eventually the game ended.

At this point I was forced to admit to defeat as I had a thumping headache, partly I think due to the rain then sun, then rain then sun conditions and the result of a few to many drinks the night before with some uni mates!

Marshalling and Site
The marshalling was top notch. All the marshals were friendly and helpful and throughout the last game continued to offer advice and support as we advanced on the objective. The bacon cob was also a very welcome addition in the morning! At lunch, burgers were served but I’m not sure whether this was included in the price of the game or not as I had brought my own food and ate that instead (at this point, I wasn’t feeling like eating a burger!) Also, I let the marshals know that I’d had enough and had enjoyed it but had to leave, they refunded me half my green fees as I’d only played half a day! This seems to be a normal think as when I paid in the morning, a chap said he was only playing the morning and they charged half price for the game. Something like this really makes you appreciate good customer service, especially in the current economic climate where all money can be a bit tight. (both for the owners and yourself)

Site wise, it was mainly flat with some large open expanses but with some banked areas, some buildings and the like. The trees in some places were very ordered so killzones could be setup down the length of these “avenues” but in other places, it was more like a normal, unmanaged wood. There was a lot of thigh length grass so with the rain, my boots and lower legs were soaked all day, but on the plus side this provided ideal hiding cover.

Conclusions

Overall, I would rate Grange Farm as one of the best sites I’ve played at. Having a good safe room, working toilets (not a portaloo!), a decent and clean kitchen where the food was cooked, great marshals, quality customer service and a decent site, Grange Farm is a quality site and I have to agree in this instance with Airsoft International, the site does deserve 5 stars out of 5!

MIA Airsoft – First Game of 2009

This game almost didn’t go ahead! Due to the awful weather conditions throughout the UK in the week running upto this (large amount of snow!), the game was a hit or miss affair as to wether it would go ahead. With luck it did AND it was still possible to drive to the site.

Anyhow, the first game of the year  and a large turn out of players considering the weather for the previous weeks! It was game where I would get to try out my new purchase (a Kalash AK74SU traded for my G36) and get to wear my Russian tanker helmet and not get far to warm.

Morning Game

The morning game was a simple capture the flag game as there was no point having a scenario as it wasn’t clear how many people would be able to get to the game.  The game still made for a refreshing game as MIA do not use CTF games much at all which in my mind, is good.

My team was  to defend the pump house at the bottom of the roads and would have to assault the wier field. I was part of the attacking force that attacked the weir field. However I was shot early on but before doing so, managed to shoot 4 of the enemy before being dispacthed. When I respawned I was quite quickly shot by the opposing teams counter attack and I made my way back to our base to defend against this strong counter attack. Here I was photographed in probably one of the best photos of me on the day.

Me Hiding In a Bank

After this photo was taken, I moved to the rear of the pump house to relieve the rearguard. Soon after I had, we were attacked from the rear in one of the most surreal moments in airsoft I’ve had. In the war movies were bullets seem to avoid people, that seemed to happen here. A group of two players had come behind us and opened fire, possible to early as we heard the shots and managed to take cover as BB’s rattled around us. I managed to get one of the ambushers before being bang killed. In all honesty I think the kid was close enough to bang kill but the hedge would in all probability stopped the shots however I took it as he would have got me before I could bring my gun to bear and he’d done a good job on it.

I then settled to guard the flag, safely able to see the flag through a window whilst remaining hidden in cover. The building was full of my team and I thought it was safe, even though I knew the enemy team were now pushing hard at the front. A chap on my right was shot and cursed as he dropped his mag when trying to return fire so I looked in his direction to see what the commotion was about. When I turned round to look at the flag, it was gone! it took me a while to realise that it had been moved and that all the guys I thought defending the flag were in fact dead! We had to go on the attack again. At this point I then decided to circle the site and attack them from the rear, however I was 2/3 of the way round when end ex was called. Overall a good game!

Afternoon CQB

Back to pistols and SMG’s for the afternoon’s CQB games. The morning game had been quite warm, we’d been in the bottom of the valley in a forest so wind was non existent really and there was a nice winter sun. CQB however was freezing. Wind chill was the real killer and even wearing a thick Russian uniform, I was cold.

The games progressed well however and I managed a good few kills with my AEP USP which I think MAY have been it’s first but I cant remember (surely with the time I’ve had it and the times I’ve used it at Spectre Urban it cant be but it felt good to get some kills with it.

Coming Around the End of The Barn

At the end of the day, the tanker hat may have looked silly but I was happy for it for two reasons – firstly, it was sodding cold and having a fur lined hat on keeps you warmer! Second, as I came round the end of a barn (not the one in the picture!), someone shot me in the ear. At least it would have hit my ear had it not hit the ear pads in the hat!

In conclusion, a good start to gaming in 2009 even with the bad weather!

Picture 1 – Courtesy of MIA Airsoft, Picture 2 Courtesy of Stealth Womble

MIA 7th Feb Game Gallery

MIA Santa Game – 20th December 2008

For me this was my last game of 2008 and what a game!

Simple premise, ambush Santa as he makes his way around the woods on a preset route. ALways good. I’d had a measure of sucess at this game as well in previous years, being the first person for 3 years to shoot Snata and thus win myself a prize!

I teamed up with another chap who had arrived by himself and we dug in and hid ready to ambush. However, this year, the route santa would take would be the same but Santa would flip a coin and go one way or the other. Having dug in, when Santa came, he obviously decided to disappear the opposite way to us and after some tactical discussion, we decided to leave our ambush post and stalk Santa from behind.  However, the paindeer (santa guards) had some sense about them and guarded the rear of Santa and we were caught after some firefights.

MIA Barn CQB was good fun as well. Quick and to the point. The new rules to stop attackers staying in one place for more than 5 minutes increased the pace of the games and made it much better.

Overall it was another good day run by Graham and the guys at MIA and I want to say thanks for good games in 2008!

Highlight – Running around a barn corner, slipping and falling onto my arse whilst gunning down the 4 guys hidden round the corner. Think a very undignified matrix!

Low point – Having to buy a TM Hi cap mag because my G36 with M4 magwell doesn’t like the midcaps. Also falling flat on my face a few times due to my new walking boots (I had forgotten to bring any combat boots down from Leeds and thus had to wear hiking boots!)

The Temple – 30/11/08 Review

Well Sunday was another great day at The Temple in Leeds. The First and Only chaps really know what they’re doing!

I had a mate up from London who also throughly enjoyed herself and she was almost about to say the best site she’s been to so that’s testament to how good the marshalls and the site is.

Game

The start of the day was very cold. Probably just around freezing as there was a few bits of ice about on the walk to the site but there was none on site which was useful.

Luckyily, must players decided it was best to load up in there cars which meant there was plenty of room in the safe zone for myself and my plus 1 to setup. The only drawback to the site is the lack of chairs and tables in the safe zone to use for loading up but having played at a fair number of sites in the UK now (at a quick count, 9 sites) chairs and tables in the safe room seems to be quite uncommon. However a few of these sites are buildings being hired specifically for airsoft (like the Temple) and thus I can see why no chairs or tables are used as the building has another use during the week.

Because of the cold, the scenario on the day was Russian themed! As you can imagine this got my hope up, however even though I was the only one on the day wearing Russian gear, I was placed on the Siberian seperatist team, rather than the Spetsnaz. In hindsight this might have been a better option as I was wearing my flora (as it’s a lot thicker and thus warmer, than my berezka) with the Russian strategic missiles defence patches so it made some sense as we were defeding a suitcase nuke for most of the day.

Gear

For the day I went back to some of my older gear. I wore my flora as mentioned as it was freezing. My flora appears to be a lot thicker than my bezerka material and my new uniform in the Les pattern hadn’t arrived. I also used my M23 Pioneer chest rig and it’s a nice simple rig for short CQB games that F+O run at The Temple. My updated and modernised AK, Tanya, was brough out as well.

Tanya used to be a TM AK47. Purchased in the years before the AK74 came out, it was the only only AK avaliable to would be Russians. That or the TM Spetsnaz. However with the release of the AK74 from all corners, I’ve wanted to modernise my main weapon as after all, I airsoft as a modern Russian soldier, thus I should really be armed as such. So when I came across a set of AK74 parts on the forums, I bought them and converted my AK into a new beast. ALl I ended up doing was moving all the TM Ak internals into a Cyma body and furniture. I did try to paint the furniture to achieve a dark plum colour like the furniture for sale at Rusmilitary, (I love the colour but didn’t want to pay £50+ for a full set) however this ended in disaster and it looked like I had a two tone AK74 so I’ve now sprayed the offending items black again.

Lastly, I used my TM Scorpion. Now this is a little favourite of mine. And after this weekend, it’s firmly emmbedded itself as a fantastic weapon. The Temple has a cramped, close office section and this gun is fantastic within the close quarters. I changed it slightly for this game…

Sting

It had a TM Tracer unit attached and I was using a drum mag. I’m not a huge fan of the drum magazine but it was a question of economics. The drum magazine cost me £25 whilst the standard magazines cost £20 each and the only place I had ever seen them was at Airsoft Warehouse which has now closed down. With the ACM Scorpion, I maybe able to get ACM small mags but these will have to wait. I’ve nicknamed it “Sting” – Similiar to the sword in The Hobbit. It doesn’t glow blue in the presence of Orcs but it does fire glowing BB’s!

Game Continued

The game was a good one. A few nasty incidents marred the day but otherwise it was a very good day. In one of the afternoon games, our team had to push back the attacking Spetsnaz. We quickly managed to contain them within the office block and the fighting resolved into corridor fighting. During this game I witnessed a few very bad pieces of military tactics. At one point I was shot and standing waiting for a medic. My team manged to force the spetsnaz back and a team mate entered a room across the corridor from me. He didn’t clear the room and just knelt down in the doorway to provide surpressing fire down the hallway. The one enemy who had been hiding in there stepped out from behind the doorway and got a “knife kill”. After I was medic’d, I went into the same room and found it empty. I then hid near the doorway, out of site of the corridor but so I could shoot anyone entering the room. After about 5 minutes of confusion, the Spetsnaz attacked down the corridor and about 5 of them were hiding from my team round the corner. I took aim and shot all 5 of them (single shot only in the office complex). This really confused them and calls of “Friendly fire!” and other phrases were shouted at there team back down the corridor until I stepped out of cover. If they’d cleared the office they would have seen me but because of the lack of checking the office, I cleared out a large chunk of the defending team in the corridor.

Unfrotunatley this was just before a member of the Airsoft Commando team (they run a good, cheap site just outside of Leeds) got shot in the face and had to physically pull BB’s out of his lip. In the next game, another of the team had a tooth shot out and someone was shot badly in the face and had blood running down the side of his face.  These second two instances were in the stairways at the other end of the building that are also single shot. The marshalls were going to have a word with the offending player but he quickly left the site rather than face up to whatever had happened and it led the Airsoft Commando guys to believe that the chap had been using a hot weapon. I must admit the day started with a chrono session as always but this week, no cable ties were attached to the guns to show what had and hadn’t been chronoed.

However, even with these incidents (which the marshalls handled well), the game was a good one for myself and most of the other players present. It was nicely finished off with a trip to a local pub for a few drinks and war stories. These drinks themselves were a good opertunity to get to know the other players and marhsalls a bit better and are probably a feature I’ll take more part in next couple of games.

The next game at The Temple is on the 14th December which I maybe be attending depending on various factors, such as money and jobs. Otherwise I’ll hopefully be playing at the MIA “Santa” game on the 20th which is always a good game.

Airsoft @ The Temple 5/10/08

The Opening of Leeds First (and Only) Airsoft Site!

This was the opening game of First and Only’s (see what I did there ) site in Leeds. As far as I’m aware, it is the first site in the middle of Leeds (and only!) It’s a 5 minute walk from where I live so I decided it would be very rude not to be at the very first game!

First impressions

Wow… I did a little research on the site and it appears this place is on Wikipedia.

This is the front of the building…

Image from Wikipedia

Impressive, no?

And I think the site lived upto the expectations I got from this. Wikipedia says that this was the largest room in the world when it was first built which filled with a bit of worry. Large open spaces with no cover don’t make for good airsoft sites, however I was to be surprised as I later saw.

The safe zone was reasonable. Quite full and a lot of people used cars to get kitted up. Not really much different to the games at Phoenix Urban. However, my impression of this place was better. Seemed better run and there was a far higher marhsall presence (see later)

All guns were chronoed to start with and tagged with a cable tie, which I thought was a good idea as it let marshalls see which guns had passed or not. Site limits were 350 fps for AEG’s, 400 fps for semi auto snipers and 500 for bolt action snipers. I assume there was an engagement range but I cant remember hearing one in the brief. Unlike a few urban sites I’ve played at “up Norf” (being a southerner!), they did have a version of the bang rule were if you were close enough to tap someone on the shoulder, a call of bang would “kill” them. Much nicer than point blank range and quite thankful for i, even though I know it’s hard to do at times!  Maybe that foam sword WILL come in handy?

Games

Oh this was good. The site is HUGE. First game we played in a smallish office section that was great fun. Our team had to defend 3 places against a small attacking force. As we died, we joined the attacking team. This game went well as it showed the excellence of the marshalling and the site. The office complex was designated single shot only, something which I’m a big fan of, having played at Spectre. This forces you to aim and make sure you hit with your first shot, whilst also minimising the pain from full auto!!

During the games, the enemy stormed our position and I got caught out where a medic couldn’t heal me and I was stuck in the middle of a firefight and a marshall came in and pulled me out. Very sensible of him, less so for me for standing there!   Medic rules were in affect for most games… You get hit, call medic, get medic’d, carry on, get shot again then either head to respawn or the safe zone depending on the games. This is a great way of doing things I think. If you don’t get medic’d within 5 minutes, you bleed out and take the second hit. Keeps games fluid I thought.

Second game was in the main section of the mill (the large room!) However, the organisers had excelled themselves and had installed hessian walls. Ok, so these aren’t solid but they provided cover and split the place up nicely. However it was at this poitn I noticed some cheating. Using my new DE UMP (well new to me), I shot two of the enemy. I distinnctly saw the BB’s bounce off them and the two of them shake the hits off and ignore me. They kind of looked at me and got back to what they were doing (not shooting me oddly!) However a marshall saw this and  sent them straight back to the respawn which was good. The marshalls were excellent all through out the day and hats off to them for doing such a good job!

We completely wiped the floor on this game and thus the marshalls then had to plan the games based on how well we’d done rather than keep it balanced. This kinda of “on the fly” game planning realyl worked well and helped to make the day a good one!

Lunch is provided in the price which is quite expensive at £30 a game. However the site and the games made up for this. However the lucnh was a bit poor and had I known I was only going to get a boiled hot dog and a can of drink, I would have taken more food. Me, greedy? Not really.. just hungry!

I went to this game by myself my usual airsofting mates were already  busy or had attended a large weekend the week before. However the players there were friendly and by the end of it, I’d spoken to a good few of the players around me in the safe room. I didn’t go to the pub after the game but I’m assured that when the day is done, they head to the local for a few drinks.

Overall, it’s a fantastic site and I will be attending the next game on the 19th, this time however, I will be attending with mates.

Best Bit – Killing half the enemy team with a well palced BFG throw – Seeing a marshall storm across the room telling people that there dead.

Worst Bit – Lunch – Not forewarned, I wasn’t prepared for the small amount. Also the cheating at times. However the good marhsalling prevented most of this.

Airsoft Commando 17th August 2008

Managed to get to Airsoft Commando at the weekend which I’ve not been to for a while. It was once agbain a good day out with few people there and as also, everyone contributed to make it a fantastic day out airsoft.

My RPK was out in force and performed admirably. I do think I may need a new hop rubber and hop bucking because at the minute I only have a piece of biro inside the hop! I think this showed at the game. However I did manage to get a good amount of kills with it that day. I did find some problems with my cheap airsoft mags and I’ve now decieded I’ve had enough of the cheaper mags and I’ll stick to the more expensive magazines. With hindsight, they seem like false economy.

I wore my Berzerka pattern camoand it bleneded in nicely. It allowed me to do some sneaky flanking manovures which is how I really enjoy playing airsoft games. I also used my 6SH92 rig and found it to be the comfiest rig to use with the RPK (considering it’s a support gun, I lie down a fair amount).

Games were good as always. The afternoon flag game was great fun with the spin on it. The flag game is where two teams have to put there flag on 4 points and keep them there for the game. However as a twist this game, we had a game with a third team whose job was to basically mess everyone else up by either attacking points or mremoving flags etc. Added a really nice spin to the game and made it that much more interesting for me (not sure how the other teams took it though!)

Also, the airsoft commando team have improved admirably and managed to crush us quite well whilst we were playing the “Defend the village” game so congrats to them!

Overall it was a good day and gave me some food for thought regarding the RPK. It’s now nice I have a loadout fairly much sorted for it.

However, I’ve recently spent some money on another loadout (not Russian related!!) and I’ll be giving details of that as and when I feel ready