Sunday's mission marked my return to airsoft after a two year absence and as such there was a lot of trepidation as I prepared for it. Despite rummaging through my kit I realized that I have lost, loaned or broken several key items in my inventory and as such I was forced to run out a very trimmed down loadout, but as it turned out that was a good thing.

Basically I was 'come as you are' with some Flecktarn trousers, good solid boots, a khaki hoodie, lightweight Flecktarn cargo belt and my Army of Two Skull mask. I had no choice about my AEG, I have only one left - my JG G3A3. But before I give you the low down on how my kit faired I must, of course, tell you a little about Centurian Airsoft.

Link to location on Google maps

Nestled in the Yorkshire National Park just outside Scarborough, Centurion's site is tucked into a little valley which is a mix of farmland and park woodland. The 56 acre site runs down the side of a hill and has ground which would be fair to say is 'rough going' - so wear stout boots my friend!

Luckily, the entrance to the site (a farm access road) is on a short lane with only the one obvious gate, so you can't miss it and in any case you can see the assembly area from the road. On a game day the Centurian crew set up a nice mess tent and there is adequate parking space for a few cars. This is one of the smaller sites I have visited in terms of organisation, but good things come in small packages.

The first thing that strikes you about the Centurian team is that they really make you feel welcome and this extends to the hospitality that they extend you by way of food. For your £15 walk-on fee you get a bacon button for breakfast and then a lovely cooked meal - ours was a pasta dish - for lunch!

There was quite a small turn out, but it's quality not quantity and we had a nice mix of young guns, snipers, gung-ho veterans and - er - me! The Zimmer Brigade! But even so the Centurian guys didn't stint on the preparations and gave a good a safety briefing, made sure everyone understood the rules and - a nice touch - emphasized the importance of hydrating and explained that there would be plenty of water available throughout the day. And why is hydrating inportant? Take a look at the hill...

Importantly, a chrono station was set up and - thank the lord - they managed to do the calculation needed for different weights of BBs (something which seems to be rocket science at some sites, and meant I didn't have to reload my G3 mags with .20s)!

As this was my return to airsoft, I did promise that I would take it easy and only do a half day, but from what I saw there are a lot of ideas and enthusiasm behind the site team and they really do try to give the punters a diverse experience. We started the day - perhaps unfortunately - with a bit of a hill climb game. I have played 'take the hill' before, but this one took the biscuit, especially due to the rain sodden ground - it was a real hike and knackered me out for the day just in that one game! (I was amused to find out that the name of this location was 'Merry Wood' - er, I beg to differ!)

But there is a diversity of ground on the site and our next game was on a slightly less taxing woodland strip before lunch. The undergrowth can be thick, with a mix of bush and thicket mixed in with trees, so there is plenty of latitude for stalking.

Well I'm sorry this isn't a really comprehensive mission report, but I can say that the sheer enthusiasm and friendliness of the site crew will elicit my support - quite aside that as a site right on my doorstep I have a vested interest to keep the numbers up!

Centurian Airsoft Harwood Dale - Site rating:

Facilities: 
Organization: 
Game scenarios: 
Marshaling: 
Safety: 
Site builds (bunkers, etc): 
Friendliness: 

Finally, I must mention two fine upstanding chaps who popped over to partake in some Yorkshire up-hill bog-snorkeling - Messrs Spider and (how ironic!) Swampy! I was glad there was three of us...In case one of us needed extracating from the mud! Nice to see these fellas - cheers guys.

Read Spider's take on the day over at the Raptor's Blog

My gear for the day

As I mentioned I didn't really have a theme for the day. I just tried to keep it light-weight and practical. But even so there were a number of 'new' items I was using on the day that bear mentioning...

Chinese copy of the Matrix Cactus Hobby Army of Two Skull mask
First of all there was my Rios Skull mask. I got this for a bit of fun, but it is a very well made piece that has very strong steel mesh and moderate face protection. Despite the quality of cool looks of this mask (I had been dying to try it out) I found a few problems with it.

First of all there was the size - it was obviously designed with a medium sized head in mind, and it didn’t quite cover my face, my chin poked out at the bottom. There is also no ear protection and ventilation is also a issue, as the small mouth holes don't help all that much, but worse the shape of the mask squashes your nose flat so you struggle to breath property! 

This was a major pain as I labored with the hill climbing at Centurian and so I found I had to pull the mask forward every so often – NOT recommended in the play area – just to get a good breath.

Verdict: A good idea, with badly implemented ergonomics.

The JG Jing Gong T3-K3 - H&K G3A3 replica
It seemed fitting that I took this AEG out for a run on my return to airsoft as this was one of the last items I had upgraded just before I had to give up the game two years ago. Land Warrior undertook a downgrade – as it was running hot at about 370fps – and installed a Laylax Prometheus 6.03MM tight barrel.

The G3A3 is – what I supposed might be – the ideal woodland AEG, and I am told that only the TM M14 or the long barreled AR10 equal or surpass it for range (among infantry rifles). Depite it’s length though it is a light and and easily to swing about and cary because it is made of strong plastic. I know a lot of people have a ‘thing’ about plastic AEGs – and as it turned out with reason (more later) – but this is my second plastic AEG and as the first stood up to a very bad fall with my weight landing full on it I have a bit more respect for the quality and strength of modern polymers!

As it turned out the talk about it’s range were fully justified, and even though my fps was on the lower side of 300fps (310 I think) and I was using .25 BBs the trajectory of my BBs was pleasingly straight and quite far. In fact this AEG has the best range of any of my other AEGs, with a consistent and reasonable ‘grouping’ on single shot. So much for FPS being everything!

I mentioned the fragility concern over plastic, and this issue was dramatically brought into focus when Swampy slipped in the mud and sheared the stock clean off his G3 carbine! It sent a chill down my spine I’ll tell you. But when you think about it, even with metal AEGs, the plastic stock is always going to be a point of weakness, I just think you have to show due care but at the end of the day accidents will happen.

Verdict: It’s said that the JG clone is every bit as good as the TM original (which is something of a collectors piece now I am told). Depite it’s length it’s surprisingly easy to bring to bear and is, in my opinion, one of the kings of the woodland game. [Just marked down because of durability concerns] 

Madbull Precision Biodegradable .25 BBs
This was another purchase that was made on the eve of my break from airsofting. I had tried out some of the early ‘biodegradables’ when I first started airsoft with disastrous consequences when fractured BioBBs caused a catastrophic blockage in my CA SA-58 which in turn caused my gears to shread in very dramatic fashion. I had to endure a string of ‘I told you so’ themed comments from fellow players that day which really predudiced my impression of these early bios.

But the technology improved and I eventually decided to give Madbull’s precision Bios a chance – having read several positive reviews. The main buying point was that these were truly biodegradable, important as many of the early so-called degradable BBs simply weren’t or at least had a half-life of plutonium!

Additionally, Madbull’s Bios contain a material called 'P-Life', which it claims is repugnant to wildlife, so it is hoped that they are not liable to be eaten by small wild critters. They are designed to fulfill strict Japanese ecological guidelines and are, as such ‘reassuringly expensive’ when compared to normal plastic BBs. Still you only have to play on a beautify woodland area like Centurian to realize that the countryside isn’t the place you should be depositing your rubbish or spent BBs and I am willing to take the ‘moral hit’ with the price for my peace of mind.On a more practical note, the Madbulls fed beautifully through my hi-cap mag and JG AEG. Not one jam and they certainly seemed to aid my guns already impressive accuracy and range.

Verdict: Practical and ethical, their only downside is the price – but what price our environment (and it helps me sleep better).

Flecktarn camo loadout items
Finally we come to the bits of Flecktarn kit which I gave a go in my ad-hoc loadout for Centurian. I used two pieces of kit based on the German mottled camo pattern (which seemed to be the right stuff to wear when totting an H&K G3 based AEG), my trousers and a belt based webbing system.

The trousers were my original – near vintage! – Undercover brand custom made paintballing trousers. These were purchased in the 80s when I was into paintballing and represented THE cool items to be wearing at the time as Flecktarn had just come into the UK market at the time. (Undercover stopped making custom camo suits some time ago, sadly.)

It’s not only gratifying to find that I can now fit into some trousers that I bought way over 20 years ago but the sheer quality of Undercover's work remains legendary for very good reason. Despite some of the worst conditions with sopping wet mud and thorny thickets the trousers remained undamaged, with no bust seams, at the end of the day. They were comfortable and with the Velcro ankle fasteners are easy to pull off over boots.Verdict:  

The second item based on the German camo pattern was my authentic German Army belt webbing – bought from the UK retailer Flecktarn. This consisted of a nice thick and sturdy belt with three different sized pouches, two small and one large butt bag. I have to say the butt bag seemed like a good idea but was a bit tricky to use because of the fiddly fasteners, so I may just buy a couple of more smaller side pouches instead.

(Where's the photos? - Sorry guys, it was literally raining so much that I didn't dare take the camera out of the bag, and to be honest the rest of the gang were feeling a bit too miserable to pose!)

Despite the atrocious weather conditions - heavy rain which was forecast to persist all day - I was quite looking forward to my first visit to this airsoft site near Matlock. I had trawled through their photo gallery and liked very much what I had seen, and their web site seemed to tick all the boxes by way of giving the impression of a well organized and experienced field management.

As usual, actually finding the site proved a little tricky, and we drove past the entrance to it and had to backtrack and gamble that an anonymous looking farm track was actually the site access! It's a growing impression of mine that anyone associated with running an airsoft site is bereft of the skill of good signage! (Laughingly, the one directional sign marking the entrance was a small arrow pinned to a post, but this was being blown around and around in the wind like a Catherine wheel - where it was supposed to be pointing was anyone's guess!)

First impressions
The track from the main road to the site area itself was a rocky and bumpy 'cow track', and our overloaded car scrapped and scratched itself all the way down a windy and narrow path. Finally reaching the base area was a relief in two ways, ending as it did our rattling drive, but also we were very pleased to see that quite a few other dogged airsofters had braved the weather and there were a good number of cars already parked up.

The safe zone/base was a small circular opening in the otherwise densely wooded surrounds. The first thing we noticed was the apparent absence of any site facilities whatsoever, the 'HQ' comprising of two small canvas tents! Players were huddled - quite pathetically - under these shelters as the wind and rain buffeted them from all sides. One small garden gazebo tent acted as the 'mess hall', with a single wooden bench for all to share, while the larger canvas shelter was the 'office', come shop, come field kitchen!

Briefing and organization
To me, the initial briefing sets the tone for the rest of the day, and my 'spidey senses' started tingling right away when a very softly spoken chap skipped through what must have been one of the shortest safety briefs that I have ever witnessed, while players at the edge of the huddle continued their chatting! I realized then that I had been somewhat 'spoilt' with the two site managers that I had experience of so far. Both Shaun of South Yorkshire Airsoft and Razor of NSC are 'mouthy' characters (no offence guys, it's meant with love!) and they do not stand for anyone who does not pay strict attention to the mandatory pre-game lecture.

Please remember that we are talking about a 'safety briefing' - I am not being petty when I emphasise this failing at 'First & Only'. I realize that there were probably a lot of regulars and that 'informal' is probably the site 'style', but with so many very young players there on the day I personally don't think there is any room for compromise when it comes to this aspect of the game.

The 'mission' briefing was likewise 'short and sweet', though the backstory was interesting enough. Today we were to play out an imaginary clash between the forces of North and South Korea - very topical.

If you go down to the woods today, You're sure of a big surprise.
So, off we tramped into the woods, two straggly lines of soggy airsofters making our ways to our respective regen points. Already the ground was getting soft and muddy, and even through the closely packed trees we could feel the rain hammering down in ever increasing torrents.

We were split into an attacking and defending forces and pointed in the direction of the opposition and summarily told to 'go get 'em'.

And thus the mayhem began...

Woods are terrific things. Good woodland can give the impression you are almost anywhere - from the jungles of Vietnam to the forests of Eastern Europe, and in this 'First & Only' Matlock did not disappoint. Their woodland is as lush as I have ever seen and it was big - very big, in fact here is where the problems started.

There were two issues that plagued my friends and I, our lack of knowledge of the site and it's layout, and the rather disorientating effect of flat terrain and tightly packed trees. There was little natural variation to the actual land at Matlock - no hillocks or depressions - and all the trees as far as the eyes could see in one direction looked pretty much exactly like all the trees in another direction!

Were you to loose contact with the battle, as you do if you try a wide flanking manoeuvre, or you have to return to regen, then you had a real problem relocating the battle again. Particularly if they fire fight has moved on from where it was when you were last involved.

Soon the woods seemed empty, and you found yourself stumbling around in thick undergrowth looking for your team mates. Stopping and listening for the distinct noise of AEG fire was very much hampered in this case by the racket of torrential rain as it clattered down on the canopy above you, and when you did come across another member of your team your query about 'which way to the front' was inevitably met with a confused shrug!

The whole situation started to become farcical - at least in my case - when I accidentally found myself in the opposing team's regen area by mistake, having wandered in completely the wrong direction looking for my own regen. I was shot from all sides, repeatedly, as I tried to make my way back out again!

A silver lining?
Not everything was bad news. When I did manage to make contact with the enemy I was very pleased with the performance of my Kalash AK74. On the occasions I could get a clear shot through the maze of trees my AEG shot far and with accuracy (and I haven't even installed the new Prometheus barrel yet). Though the price of this was the additional weight I had to lugg about, and I did at times envy my team mates who mostly went for shorter, lighter AKs.

On one particular occasion I had a wonderful experience where the trees just seemed to open up before me and there, in the distance, was an enemy player framed perfectly through windows of branches. I took aim and let loose a stream of BBs and covered his side and back. At first he did that 'you didn't really see me' freeze that some players try on - but I knew I had plastered him. However, luck was on my side for once and standing right behind him was a Marshal whom I assume (I couldn't hear what was said) politely and gently asked my target if he was going to 'take the hit'!

I do find that it's the younger players who try on this ruse. You hit them and they become frightened rabbits in headlights - one can only assume that what is going through their mind is 'if I don't acknowledge he hit me he might think he missed'. Unfortunately, this ploy is exactly what leads to over-kill and magging - where, through frustration, you hose your target with superfluous BBs in order to emphasise the hit.

Of all things, your AEG performing correctly is a key aspect to any skirmish outing. At least this element didn't disappoint - despite being soaked through, dropped and muddied. I actually had to scrape out mulched leaves and mud from the muzzle after one comical fall, but the beast still went on serving BBs quite happily.

In summary
There was a few good things that came out of the day, principally the team spirit of Team AKA. I was very proud of my mates who came through the day's experience with a very mature and very philosophical attitude to the event. Summed up it went 'if you don't try these these things you don't know'. Other satisfying aspects of the day were my Russian wet weather suit - which was greatly appreciated - and my HotCan self-heating meal pack. Both served to make the unseasonably cold and wet day more bearable.

However, 'First and Only' Matlock was not for us. We had all picked up on the subtle little quirks of the site and it's foibles just didn't sit right with the communal team ethos about airsoft and what makes a good skirmish. But, to be fair, we were not the only ones who were critical of the failings on that day, and the attitude of a few can be summed up by the frustration of one player who commented: 'I've come to shoot people, and NOT for a stroll in the woods!'.

Whether due to the horrible weather, or the disjointed game play, or both, some players decided to vote with their feet and left during the lunch break. Reluctantly, Team AKA decided to do the same (the reduced numbers making it even less likely that you could find a 'needle in a hay stack').

I don't like giving any site a panning. I hugely respect any person or group of people who decide to put all the effort into making a site and running it. But at the end of the day running an airsoft site is a business and if it doesn't provide the service you expect then you just go elsewhere. As my team mate Dewey said, this would be the 'First and Only' time for us at this site.

'First & Only' Matlock woodland site - assessment:-

The negative

> Non-existent facilities
> No map of the play area and it's landmarks
> Skant and under-stated safety briefing
> NO CHRONOGRAPHING
> Too far ranging play area under the circumstance
> Games were too long
> 'Suprise' floating regen areas
> Devoid of navigation way points

The positive

> Lovely natural woodland (thickest I have seen)
> I particularly liked the clumps of thick ferns (sniper heaven)
> Site did offer a 'meal deal' with a burger and canned drink
> Very friendly staff

Personal positives

> Team spirit really has come together
> My Kalash AK74 performed faultlessly and accurately
> My Russian wet weather over suit was a blessing
> I think I have finally cracked the fine art of packing (didn't forget anything)
> My HotCan self heating meal was fantastic

Personal negatives

> Still don't have a 'fogless' googles for heavy rain days
> Had to revert to borrowed mesh goggles
> Still not happy with my boots - still uncomfortable
> The Team needs to sort out a comms system as a priority


'First & Only' Matlock - Site rating:

Facilities:
Organization:
Game scenarios:
Marshaling: *
Safety: *
Site builds (bunkers, etc):
Friendliness:

* Marshalling and safety were both marked down as there was no chronographing

Related links:

> 'First & Only' web site - Matlock woodland section
> 'First & Only' Matlock photo gallery

Having broken the ice with my return to skirmishing with my visit to NSC this month, I fully intended to go again as soon as I could. I don't have to wait long though, as it turns out that the next Team AKA outing is to First and Only Matlock Woodland on Sunday 6th June.

View Larger Map

This is the first time we have visited this particular site so it's time for a bit of a virtual recce. Fist stop is the site web pages of course, and as usual I am particularly disappointed that First & Only is one of those sites that chose not to put up a good diagram or map of the game area. People like to know the configuration of a site, see it's facilities and check out the lay of the land. But there you go.

The saving grace here is that First & Only do have a nice photo gallery and there are some very impressive shots of their woodland and bunkers. I was excited to see that their woodland was mainly coniferous, which makes it w very different proposition from the deciduous woodland at NSC. Farmed fir woodland tends to be more densely populated, with less undergrowth between the columns of firs and is also more shaded.

Above: First & Only has certainly gone to lengths to provide an emmersive experience, this bunker looks excellent! Source: First & Only Airsoft

So while the trees provide shade, cover and do provide good opportunity for camouflage usage they can be more conducive to faster movement than mixed bush and deciduous tree woodland. Plus, I like fir trees!

The look of the site itself gives me great hope for the forthcoming mission. From the set-piece construction - like the bunker - it is obvoius that a lot of care and thought and work has gone into making an interesting game area and that bodes well.

Chosen team loadout: Russian Flectar-D

> Link: First & Only Airsoft - www.firstandonlyairsoft.com
> Link: First & Only Airsoft Forum

AEG grunts like myself could only look on nervously.

Meanwhile back at the ranch
One initial disappointment was the depressing amount of vandalism that had taken place at the site since my last visit. The local urchins (why aren’t these kids in Afghanistan?) had taken much glee in wrecking and setting fire to the ‘village’ in the quarry.

My heart goes out to all the NSC members who put so much time and effort into their build days and try to make their site an interesting and fun site only to have their work trashed by a bunch of cretins.

Razor et al were sick at the mindless vandalism, but were philosophical, as they had also just created some excellent new trench systems that provided nice deep fire pits.

Incy wincy Spider…
Moving on, the morning’s games were informal ‘ice breakers’ with minimal rules other than ‘go out and shoot people and enjoy yourself’. These less structured game formats, with their simple objectives, were great for getting everyone warmed up, but especially useful to get the brace of first time players that we had up and going.

There can be nothing worse for a newbie, already nervous about ‘da rulz’, to have to remember complicated tactical and strategic orders and procedures on top of everything else. And as it turned out all the new guys lapped up this fast and furious baptism and were eager and enthusiastic players.

In truth, the more experienced players seemed happy to let these newbie’s do a lot of the heroic running around while they hunkered down and found their angles or – in the case of the snipers – scampered about in the undergrowth like the little creepy crawlies that they are!

I love the smell of Fogtech in the morning
One element of the first half of the morning was the lovely weather, and this soon took its toll as the furious fun caused those with plastic goggles to suffer from fogging. One guy who was next to me looked like he had a Turkish sauna going on inside his Bolle 500s.

I was using my new Tokyo Marui Pro Goggles for the first time and so I seemed to fair better than most. Don’t believe the hype, they will fog eventually. But with the addition of some FogTech and by using the build in exhaust fan I faired better than I ever have and at no point had my vision completely obscured with condensation (as has happened in the past with even my Bolle X800s).

We all felt sorry for a couple of the new guys who had decided to wrap up (presumably for some protection) – one actually wearing a leather jacket! I don’t think they will do that again, and I for one advised one of the initiates to bring a canteen of water with him the next time…The poor guy was mafted!

Then it all went pair shaped...For me!
I had an absolute ball in the morning. Having just returned to aisrofting after a long spell of illness I promised myself I would take things easy, but this was hard to do when the games were just so exciting. Everyone was throwing themselves into the games, and as it turned out the challenge of pitting ourselves – the grunts – against the excellent snipers got the brain working as well as the legs!

This didn’t stop ‘Spider’ (resident sniping aficionado) from taking me out with – what I thought – was the most amazing headshot. I knew he was lurking, and knew roughly where he was, but his Ghillie suit hid his precise position and all I could do in the end was keep popping out from behind my cover to lay down a stream of auto in the hope I would keep his head down…But…

-- THWACK! --

One single shot, right in my forehead – he even managed to hit just above my TM mask so it caught me right on the top of my unprotected head!

Kudo man, kudos!

And as far as I heard, all the other snipers were having just as much ‘happy hunting’ on that morning!

Above: My JG BAR 10 springer - never used, but NSC's sniper action made me think that maybe should dust this aquisition off and give it at least a one try (otherwise sell it and make some space). Mind you, I have to ask myself - do I *really* want to try and take on some of those sniper guys at NSC at their own game. Maybe not! LOL

It’s a bit hard to explain why you can have fun by having someone else playing a great game – but the way I look at it the best games are those fought against great opposition, and the marshals had made sure both teams were very well balanced, with newbies and veterans alike spread between them.

But just as things were going so well, I started feeling a bit knackered and suddenly began to feel my absence from the game catching up with me. And if to add insult to injury that’s exactly when the pitter patter of the rain started…

Pissing on our bonfire!
Yes, the BBC had got it wrong (again), and as if from nowhere a torrent descended down on us and literally poured water on our fun and games!

The combination of tiredness and wetness brought the pussy out in me and I had to beg off (a big thank you to Mark for his understanding as he drove me home early).

Well, I only got a half day, but what a half-day it was. In particular the first of the day’s games – defending the quarry – ranks as one of the most fun games I have ever played, so I wasn’t too disappointed as we trundled off home. The day broke the ice and has got me back into playing again for the first time this year.

All in all it was an excellent return, made all the more enjoyable because of the friendly and enthusiastic people at NSC Airsoft. The only real disappointment was that I didn’t get to try out all my different bits of new kit or take as many pictures as I had intended to. But hey – you can’t have everything!

I’ll end this little report by thanking literally everyone who took part in the proceedings at NSC on my visit. From the marshals, to my team mates, to the opposition and even all the new guys – absolutely everyone played their part to the full to make it a cracking (half) day for me.

Cheers NSC!

Above: 'Spider' - sniper extraordinaire - helps 'Pinkie' with his comms set up - NSC is that sort of place, everyone just lends a hand and is happy to do so.

--------------------

Da Linx:

> NSC Airsoft - Elemore Lane half way between Pittington and South Hetton (A182), near Durham.
> NSC community forum - join in the fun! (Registration required.)
> My 'NSC photo Album' on Flickr

Featured items:

> FogTech anti-fogging juice - At Airsoft World (UK)
> Tokyo Marui Pro Goggles - At ZeroOne (UK)

(Not my video - but this gives a good idea what to expect at NSC!)

Well it's been a while since my last airsoft outing. But - happily - I am now beginning to feel that I have got over my health problems, and with the weather improving as well it looks like I will be back in action next month.

My team mates have been visiting Phoenix Airsoft - in the Sherwood Forest - and have been telling me some very good things about their woodland site (Phoenix also have an urban and CQB site too). It's apparently a very friendly site, with imaginative and challenging game formats.

Having decided to get back in the saddle, so to speak, it only remains for me to put together a suitable loadout - Russian themed of course!

What's quite exciting about this mission is that I have the chance to finally complete a full loadout to my satisfaction. So far I have collected together several only partially completed loadouts, and so I want this return to airsoft with a satisfyingly comprehensive loadout.

I had an idea, right from the outset, that I wanted to collect four different Russian style military loadouts, matching four different types of AEGs representing the AK family of rifles. Here are the loadouts I envisaged:

• CQB - black 'Bekas' style uniform with short 'Beta' AK
• Spetsnaz - Russian 'Tiger' camo with mid-length AK (AK104)
• Assault - Flecktar-D camo with full length AK (AK74M) & grenade launcher

However, over and above these loadouts - loosely based on modern Russian Army uniforms - I also wanted to have a loadout that represented the transition from the Soviet era to the new Russian Army. The main items in this loadout would be the Russian 'birch' camouflage Bekas BDUs and wooden furnitured AKs - my AKS74U and my CYMA AKM.

So, for the Phoenix mission I have several things to do; I need to have my CYMA AKM repaired and downgraded (as it's a bit hot), I need to acquire Birch Bekas in XXL, I need a full set of my team badges, a pair of new boots and a new gun bag. My old cheap one from Wolf Armoury having come apart at the seams - literally!

A batch of nice metal AK47 mags would't go amiss - UNCompany of Hong Kong have a box set of 5 King Arms hi-caps that would do very nicely. But they also have a very cool sound activated electric driven 1000 round dual AK mag that would keep me well supplied with BBs all day!

I have my new Tokyo Marui Pro fan googles in black, to which I'll be adding neoprene balaclava for protection. This will give the black balaclava look of Russian special forces - but I am definitely going for protection over authenticity with this loadout.

> Link to Phoenix Airsoft

So, having packed our wet weather gear just in case, we crammed the four of us into Dewey's Beamer and tootled off to SYA (although it's getting to the point where we need a team van to transport our kit comfortably!)...

'Battle Isle' - Rise of the Hay Bales
We arrived at South Yorkshire Airsoft in good spirits, mainly because we had read on the site forum of a new format that Shaun (site fuhrer) had devised where the camp had been divided up into a number of small 'islands', separated by the roads which were now 'rivers'. Joining each island to the next was a imaginary series of bridges (hay bales with tape strung between them).

Above: Yellow team squad take one of the bridges leading to their main objective. This was one of the highlights of the morning session, as there was some excellent teamwork and mutual support involved in this action. Excuse the shaky photography at this point, as I was under fire and snapped this on the move.(Click on photo for larger version and additional description.)

This was a really cool idea, as it focused the teams on advancing on and capturing these hot spots. Additionally, there was the chance throughout the day to 'blow' particular bridges to stop the enemy advancing or retreating!

On top of this there was a plot line centred around to defence or attack of an imaginary regime and, in particular, it's Prime minister. Red team were assigned defence of the PM and his nation, and Yellow team were to be the rebel contingent. Throughout the day Shaun updated the teams with new objectives depending on the success or failure of previous missions, and there were a few surprises thrown in - like covert 'chopper' landings to keep the rebels on their toes.

Above: 'Battle Isle' mission map. Black lines are rivers, 'B' marks a bridge crossing. Click on map for larger version

In game - how did the format work in practise?
There was quite a mix of regular and first time players on the day, and for a big site like SYA this meant there were a lot of problems with navigation. Despite furnishing all players with maps, newbies were taken by surprise by the sheer size of the playing area, and as usual this led to some groups getting 'lost' or disorientated.

A proportion of players found that the designated bases for regen were too far apart, and the long walk back took far too long to complete. This meant that in order to gain a head of steam to undertake a large scale attack - say, to take a bridge - there were some long waits while enough players accumulated to make an effective push.

Some of the younger players grew frustrated by the periods of waiting while numbers built up - but once these bottlenecks were taken there was plenty of action on the 'islands' themselves.

However, a great many players did recognize that for a site the size of SYA a mobile regen (maybe in the form of a forward command post) or Medics would have helped to keep the action flowing.

Communications - the perennial bugbear
In a game where command orders and changes to orders are a central theme, communications are absolutely crucial. Yet, with so many first time players on the field there were not enough radio comms available and because new orders were posted at the [distant] regen this led to a great number of misunderstandings where players in the field were not privy to the latest changes in orders.

Team AKA made a whole-hearted decision to - finally - get our radio comms sorted. Once again, we found we got split up and couldn't find each other. Also, screaming tactics at each other from a distance isn't exactly a good thing when the enemy are within ear-shot! So the coming month will be one of organizing our comms kit and practising.

Because of this general breakdown in communications, Shaun wisely modified the format in the afternoon session, bringing the two team regen points closer to the action and issuing the team orders himself to groups of players as they waited in regen. So, in effect, he acted as commander in chief to both teams (with his marshals radioing back to him the progress of objective missions).

Conclusion
The biggest surprise of the day was how the weather changed. From a very autumnal grey British day - which is actually ideal airsoft temperatures - the weather completely changed in the afternoon to quite a hot summers day, complete with blue skies and beating sun!

With the newly modified format the afternoon games were a lot more flowing and cohesive, and objectives were understood and achieved with less fuss on both sides (so nice call SYA). There were some terrific 'house to house' battles, and everyone pretty much stuck to larger groups - there was no room for lone wolves on this day.

The ranging distances involved in getting from 'A' to 'B' (having to take the long way via the chain of bridges) combined with the rising heat to wipe a lot of us out by about 3 o'clock. It grew harder and harder to mount effective pushes as the old legs turned to jelly and the sweat poured down our brows.

Above: The long trudge back to the safe zone at the end of the days play.

When 'Game' was eventually called everyone was pretty much beat - by the temperatures that is! And there followed a slow mass trudge back to the safe zone by a pose of the tiredest looking airsofters you've ever seen!

Overall the day was declared a success and much fun, and with some of the bugs ironed out it's looking good for the second half of the two part themed event (scheduled for next month). Well done to the organizers, marshals and or course all the players who did their part to make it a memorable days airsofting.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...

> Good: The sense of achievement we got taking a bridge under fire (team work rocks!)

> Bad: When some of our hard won ground was immediately lost due to a 'misunderstanding' concerning ground which the map had designated 'out of bounds' - but wasn't (apparently)! :(

> Ugly: Dewey's very manly falling over when he found a hidden divot - the girly screech didn't do his image any good either! LOL

Usefull Links:-

> South Yorkshire Airsoft
> Team AKA
> Milgeeks Flickr album of the 'Battle Isle' mission
> South Yorkshire Airsoft Flickr photostream

Click here for a large version in a new window: NSC, Durham isometric

Left: Me in my new safety mask. A bit too 'sci-fi' maybe, but I was pleased I wore one when I saw at close hand another player without a mask have his tooth shot out!

It was a game of two halves…

We were very lucky with the weather as we had experienced heavy rain in the week prior to the game, however I was prepared just in case the heavens opened and took my Russian Tiger camo wet weather suit with me.

In fact one of the things that is perhaps worth recording about this particular event is that this is the very first game since I started playing airsoft where I really felt I was completely prepared for the day out. My equipment was checked, batteries charged and bags packed the night before and just ready to pick up.

When I first started airsoft I always felt I was ill prepared for any game. I either didn’t feel I had the right equipment, or enough equipment, or maybe even forgot to bring certain equipment. The morning of game days were, inevitability, chaotic scenes in my household as I ran about tracking down items that weren’t where I thought they were (or at least, weren’t where I last left them).

Right: Because nobody took a camera the debute of my latest Russian loadout went unrecorded. So here's a little doodle of my new uniform!

This deficiency on my part, my lack of organization, meant that the start of the game day was fraught with stress, and it took me a while to actually calm down and enjoy the morning’s games.

So, in effect, half of organizing an enjoyable and successful game day is the preparation you do before the game day itself. It’s a logical lesson I’ve been aware of for a while, but has taken me until now to put into effect.

It was a half of two quarters!

Well, if preparation is half of what makes an enjoyable game day, then the game day itself was a game of two quarters. I hadn’t played in two months, so I felt really rusty and it took me all morning to get into my rhythm. So the morning – for me – was best forgotten, with some silly mistakes, but the afternoon's events completely made up for this.

The NSC guys were fantastic and, just as I found with my first visit, it was their enthusiasm and ingenuity that carried the day. For example, one of the afternoon games involved hunting for a ‘bomb’ and a detonation unit – but this wasn’t the usual pretend suitcase type prop that I have seen before, but rather a real electrical detonator which really detonated a small pyrotechnic ‘bomb’. Excellent!

It’s this sort of  effort – actually making a good looking prop and not some half hearted ‘Blue Peter’ effort - that impresses me.

I really enjoyed the ‘hunt’, and even when we all got a bit bogged down in a Mexican Stand-off (where each team had one half of the objective) there was a tension that elevated the affair from just a simple game to an immersive event.

The whole afternoon was among one of the best times I have had airsofting. The only slightly sour note being when one of the players had a tooth shot out, but then again I was completely impressed with sportsmanship (everyone immediately responding to the Marshal’s call to ‘STOP GAME’) and the immediacy and obvious concern of the Marshal’s. This one ‘blip’ completely affirmed my decision to wear a full-face mask - although I am not enirely happy with the one I chose.

Game on again, and the rest of the day was a hugely enjoyable and very hard fought woodland skirmish.

Nice one NSC.

New aquisitions for the day!

Well, I was very pleased to have been able to have a nice collection of brand new items on show for the event. Among these were; my 'Flecktar-D' camo suit, a virgin Kalash RK05 AK-74M airsoft rifle, (blue stripey) Telnyashka Para Vest, Viper fingerless gloves and D-Boys 1000 round 'super hi-cap' magazine.

Of these I was - while being please with all my aquisitions - especially chuffed with the Viper figerless military gloves. These solves a big problem I was having with the full-fingered Oakley tactical gloves I had been using until now - namely, that the glove fingers made it very hard to manipulate fiddley items. The Viper gloves also exactly resemble a pair of Russian Army issue gloves I have seen in several photos - which was an added bonus.

Finally, one unexpected addition to my collection was a Soviet era officer's belt (pictured above), which was brought along especially for me by one of the other NSC members - because they thought I would like it. How cool is that? (Big thank you Silent Bob - much appreciated, mate!)

I had to do the phone call of shame to the lads explaining I wouldn't be attending tomorrows airsoft skirmish. I guess for any airsofter this must be the worse scenario, nearly making it to a game - but not quite. What is really frustrating is the thought of the rest of the guys at the game tomorrow - and having to listen to the 'war stories' the following day. 

Additionally, you know that the game you miss will - of course - be 'the best game ever' when the tales are recounted!

To make matters worse, I was looking forward to showing off a few new items of kit - always a cool thing to be able to do. These included some very smart looking Russian Tiger camo rain proofs that I haven't had a chance to wear yet (it was forecast heavy rain for tomorrow), a new modular pouch belt, and best of all my newly 'weathered' Kalash AKS74U.

I had spent a lot of time reading about how to weather (applying fake wear and tear) to ones AK. And decided to have a go this week. Here;s a picture of the resultant AK...

On top of the weathered look, my AKS74U is also sporting a new Element rubber recoil pad and a set of Element polymer grips in brown. I'm hugely disappointed not to be able to show off my newly tricked out AK, as I'm really pleased with it.

Site introduction

NSC is a medium sized woodland site located half way between Pittington and South Hetton, near Durham, County Durham. At this time of year (summer season) the woodland is dense undergrowth - watch out for those nettles! - intermingled with good tree coverage, effectively blocking the sun and creating a nicely shaded canopy.

Between the woodland are a couple of more open areas – notably the ‘Village’ and the ‘Quarry’ – and there are well worn tracks through the undergrowth to patrol and move with some measure of stealth.

The ground is undulating and rough, so make sure you have good footwear. There are plenty of ditches, hillocks, fallen branches and other obstacles that could have you tripping.

Site facilities are somewhat primitive – but, hey, we're men, rufty-tufty men - so just remember to bring plenty of toilet paper and a shovel! (If you are really hard, bring some 'Izal' paper!)

Car parking is also a little scant, the main car park only holding about  half a dozen car on rough hardcore. Overflow car parking is available on the grass verge of the main road outside the site, so it’s best to arrive early if you want to park inside the compound.

The site from a player’s perspective

The woodland is gorgeous! The uneven ground I mentioned above is a real bonus, creating natural defensive positions throughout. At this time of year this means that a person could be only 10 feet away from you and you wouldn’t know until they open up!

NSC has added to this by digging a few fox holes and trench systems, creating objective points to assault and defensive positions at key bottlenecks. It’s obvious that those involved have made a great effort to make interesting and varied zones of play around the site.

Of particular note are ‘The Quarry’ and ‘Hamburger Hill’, two constructs that the team at NSC have put together to create defensive redoubts for ‘defend & assault’ games. The rich vegetation in and around these two areas created beautifully balanced zones that allowed the attackers to creep close – if they have the skill – and prevent the positions from becoming overly dominating kill zones. Very nice.

Surrounding a portion of the site and the Quarry is a low cliff, this can be circumnavigated meaning that if you are not careful you will easily find your team outflanked and fired on from above!

Site Organization

First of all, I have to mention that there was no mandatory chronographing at arrival. And random chronoing is done on reports by players that they suspect is using a hot AEG. The staff are very friendly, and great deal of emphasis on preventing cheating is placed on the fact that the site is regularly populated by a tight-knit group of friends, so there is a lot of self-monitoring and mutual moderation.

Left: 'Ivan the Terrible'! Me looking mean and moody, I actually enjoyed myself immensely - I was smiling on the inside!

The safety-briefing was good, and very humorous, with some nice role-playing of ‘bang’ rule and face-off situations. Great importance was placed on both appropriate eye-wear and footwear. Because this is a medium sized site, there was also a quick explanation of the ‘out of bound’ rules (which I – sadly – fell foul of).

Finally, mention must be made of the excellent on-site shop (provided by Andy’s Airsoft) and there were limited tea and coffee facilities, with some hot grub (burgers and hot dogs) available at lunch.

The games

Play was a series of short games - the objective being to dominate a particular area on the field – as opposed to complecated themed missions. They were designed to make use of the various zones and constructs around the site. So, as the day progressed, we moved from one zone to another.

Play formats were mainly based on defend/assault type games. Although we were treated to a rather novel objective based game designed around the control of a mission object (in this case a large plastic barrel). No, this didn’t exactly inspire me to begin with, but once the game actually started this turned out to be an excellent competition to see who could gain and keep possession of the prize!

Potential visitors should note, NSC does not use coloured team arm-bands as is the normal practise in order to identify team members. You must use your intelligence and own visual memory to recognise who is on your team!

This game took place in ‘The Village’ a ‘death house’ type maze made up of boarding. The barrel had to be held in here, and players were restricted to semi-auto fire inside the construction, so there was some terrific CQB type action inside the village itself.

The Quarry site is a wonderful defensive fort, built into the foot of the cliff I mentioned. The outside of the ‘fort’ has thick undergrowth coming right up to the walls, and there is no clear ‘kill zone’ around it so defenders have to be on their toes!

The day ended in a ‘Hamburger Hill’ game. This was based around a superb construct, and a credit to NSC’s enthusiasm and ingenuity. It is a trench and bunker system built into the brow of a shallow hill. A small number of defenders were nominated and the rest of the players had to assault the bunker, climbing the hill.

Again, NSC avoided to temptation to clear a kill zone (as a real military position like this would have), and gave the attackers some chance of reaching the top by running from tree to tree, and bush to bush. Excellent!

Conclusion

Enthusiasm and friendliness are the two words I would use to describe NSC. These guys put a lot of effort into trying to make an interesting and varied field in a limited amount of space. So much so that staff and players actually have ‘build days’, where constructs are improved or added to.

The playing body is likewise a friendly bunch, and there was no sense of elitism or cliques that I could see. As a ‘newbie’ to both airsoft and the site I was made very welcome, and the site commandant – Razor – made a point of coming up to me at the lunch break and chatting to me.

Above: Razor - the NSC manager - takes time to join in one of the afternoon games.

A measure of the general spirit of comradery of NSC was the fact that one of the members – Evilpredator – sought me out after I made enquiries about travel on their forum and offered me a lift to the site.

So, will I go back? You bet. Yes, it’s a smaller site, with smaller numbers than my introductory experience of airsoft at SYA (there were 30 of us on the day I went). But the compactness of NSC – as I expected – did in fact concentrate the action and the players into a more focused area – meaning that I got just as much action as I do when I attend the much larger South Yorkshire Airsoft site.

Despite the lack of themed operations (perhaps due to the size of the site), if you are an airsoft player that just wants to get into the action – and let’s face it the action is half the game – then NSC is for you!

--- Just don’t forget the toilet roll!  LOL

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Thanks:-

> Photo credit: All photos are the property of NSC player 'George of the Jungle' and I am grateful for his kind permission to use them in my report. 

 > Big 'cheers' goes to NSC Evilpredator who gave me a lift to and from the site - you're a dimond mate!

> And of course, everyone at NSC!

> NSC Airsoft website