Archive for the ‘Game Days’ Category

So its a week to go till GZ for the Raps after a two year hiatus (thankfully thursday camping is back on). The itinerary is set and the tour begins 25/08 with a trip to [REDACTED– Won’t be much of a surprise if we tell them now will it? – Spider] and possibly perhaps maybe a trip to an Airsoft store. Who knows hehehe

In honour of the trip and the fact I have broken 4 cheap radio headsets i decided to get a new throat mic.

Iasus Concepts NT3 Black Ops system. Bought and shipped from Hong Kong for under a ton (including adaptor for my motorola) it took only 36 hours to reach the UK and then the usual 8 days to get from ‘The International Hub’ of stupidity to Rotherham Depot. Still its here and in one peice and looks the Mutts. Tried throat mics before with some success but they were the cheaper wired kind that form a C shape around the throat. This is a full belt deal and fits perfectly and is comfy. Comes with optional ear pieces (not at extra cost!) and the acoustic tubing is adjustable by trimming and using a spacer which is secure and works a treat. Testing to follow shortly.

Soooooo had some time in the months leading up to GZ to sort out all of the Airsoft related jobs that get forgotten about and they are nearly done.  List was getting silly so got stuck into a new Ghillie Suit first.  Ive had some Jack Pycke Netting (like net curtain netting) for some time and thought it would make a decen t base for a suit.  SO using a boiler suit as a template a new one has duly been cerated.  Its the last of my old batch of camo scraps so its been bulked with torn up flecky material which isnt ideal but will do.  Looks the biz so the MKIV suit to be started this winter will definitely be on this theme as far as a base goes.  As for the hessian (dont like jute it tends to clump) Im not going to go down the route of using upholsterers webbing as it is messy and takes a shit load of time to unravel for the fibres.  Instead its gonna be natural hessian thread / twine home dyed in my choice of shades.  More to come later…

Finally in swamp at the minute has been my rather dissapointing ( in terms of performance) CO2 powered Umarex USP.  Sold as having a variable hop (which it doesnt) has lead to me not skirmishing it and sitting looking at it longingly and contemplating another purchase I decided to try and mod it.  After all if I knack it then theres no option but to buy a new one.

So after handing it around half a dozen people finally figured out how to field strip it.  Very simple if not given to a bunch of bozo’s.  Simply depress the breech cover ( mine is NBB by the way) and slide the slide back and lift from the rear.  Confronted with an alloy block holding the inner barrel, which was disassembled it allowed me to drill and tap a small grub screw into said block which sits neatly over the tiny hop ring inside (it does have a hop ring…) once done variable hop.  Pics to follow if I can be arsed.

Anyhooooooooo thats all for now and for those that are bothered…. 160 odd hours to go.

Link to there throat mic here

The Raptors headed to First and Only’s newest site in Otley near Leeds. Our first game for a while and as we headed to the wilds north of Leeds the weather forcast was not good…

On arrival it was obvious that it was not going to be a big numbers day. Just a few cars in the car park (which can easily accomodate a lot more) surprised us both as we’re used to the turnouts at Anzio for First and Only games. However even with the small numbers some great load outs were on view!

Jamie and Bibby from F+O arrived having brought the shop trailer even for the expectedly low numbers which still gave us plenty of stuff to look at whilst chronoing and briefing. It did not take long before we set off into the woods for the first game

Two things immediately struck me, the woodland is fantastic for airsoft. Mature woods with lots of thick bushes for cover, masses of large ferns and big boulders, even numerous streams in small gulleys. It’s like something from a film set. The atmosphere due to the rain was hot and humid, all contributing to a close tense feeling (and more exciting!).

The second was the slopes. Largely formed in a valley bottom, the terrain is tortuous. Steep slopes abound, made even more tricky by frequent boggy areas and slippery surfaces when wet. All meant you had to plan and execute movement with care, and speed nigh on impossible! It meant however that moving and manouvering became even critical to the games.

The games kicked off with a fight for control of an area style game to get the two teams into the action. I wish I had some form of guncam at this point to get across just how dense the woodland is. You become convinced that every fern or bush hides a sniper, and with careful planning you can seriously get close to the opfor! I managed what probably appeared to be a stunning stealth attack to take the base from the enemy with about 60 secs to run and hold it to the end of the game. In reality, I had tripped over, slid downhill about 30 feet to find myself staring into the base with Bibby looking the other direction. A brief panic ensued with liberal use of the trigger finger to get me inside where I had little choice but to pray for the time to run out desperately taking down medics as they wandered in to revive their team captain.

The next game involved a rolling attack, where we as defenders got to set ambushes. If you are prepared to get your head down, and a little damp there are limitless hiding places. More than once I was able to let the attackers roll straight past and attack from the rear. I could hear the opfor position thanks to some great support gunning from one of our team who tirelessly enganged them with some considerable enthusiasm! It saved me having to keep raising my head for a look. Ultimately the opfor (red team) displayed some great teamwork to get their VIP to the final required position. It is incredibly hard to break down an attack when they communicate and co-operate as much as they did… well played!

Following this the scenario of an escaping drug cartel continued. They had to make a break for freedom as we pursued them. Unfortunately as the previous game was all downhill, this meant this one was uphill. By the time the battle had raged all the way to the carpark I had no idea who had won as I’d got lost in the dense undergrowth and was contemplating having a coronary… the lunch break was very welcome!

After lunch I decided to give the bolt action L96 a run out (and Swampy running his bolt action as well). The dense woodland and valley of the site give it a lot of protection from the wind. As a result the gusty conditions in the carpark only last for the first 20 yards or so, at which point the sniping potential becomes clear. with so many places to hide, and relativley calm conditions it is a sneaky sods wet dream! We kicked off the F+O Khe Sanh game, with 3 areas to be sequentially defended. The first showed us some of the hard work already completed by the F+O team with several great bunkers to be defended. Following that we moved further down into the woods, where I had some of the best long range shooting I’ve had for a long while. (Kudos should also go to the Opfor for the sportmanship in calling every tiny hit, because some must have been hard to feel in the undergrowth.) I believe Swampy was having a similar time, and the Opfor continued to distinguish themselves in their repated enthusiastic attacks which must have been knackering to say the least! Especially worthy of mention were the two red team members who infiltrated our last base from behind causing mayhem and confusion and leading me to have to medic one of my own team after I accidentally pistoled him!

The last game reinforced just how tricky it is to move here. We had to attack across the slope. I had no idea where the opfor base was, and despite my best efforts managed to walk almost into it before realising as the BBs opened up. I then spent the remainder of it crawling through ferns in desperate search of some cover as Swampy kept up the radio commentary of just how precarious my position was (cheers bud!)

All in all, a fantastic days softing, far exceeding any expectations I had. F+O have got themselves a great site with tons of potential. It probably isn’t your average run and gun field. But it is so much more instead. The possibilities for stealth, tactics, manouvering and atmosphere are limitless. For a self confessed sneaky sod like me, it’s close to airsoft heaven. If they can maintain the friendly enthusiastic sporting atmosphere this will be a site that every airsofter should visit….

Thanks all, players (of both teams) and marshalls alike, you made a great day!

P.S. We found a suitable hostelry as well! Just down the road. Hope you’ll all join us for a pint next time!

UPDATE
You can find booking info and directions all at the F+O forum page here

So for the first time in a while both the raptors were able to make it to an NSC game day.

We made our way north as the wind and rain picked up testing our radio headsets en route as we’d had someproblems with them recently. Needless to say they worked fine until we turned off the A19…

Another good attendance despite the forecasted iffy weather. (Possibly as they know that means I probably won’t be sniping?). A full carpark is always a good sign at NSC, which has seen the addition of several structures over the last few months.

With a few new players, including even a few from the now defunct MARRS, it made target identification ever more vital, indeed for the morning session I was taken out by my own team more often than the OPFOR. Although The Einherjar (TM) have got this sorted with their own merchanding now prolific in the safe zone!

The first game of the day was supposed to be a fast paced end to end game invoilving the Quarry and the village. However the dense undergrowth, and large number of players lead to an unwillingness to press home attacks. The teams inched towards each other with no-one willing to make significant advances. [although kudos to Sneak for some of the best infiltration I’d seen in a while as I struggled to keep up with him advancing along the quarry wall]. A gradual war of attrition set in until we were able to reduce the enemies numbers enough that there were holes in their flanks we were able to exploit to the full advantage (when not being shot in the back by my own team that is…)

The next game up was a firm favourite of mine. the hostage rescue scenario. Despite my repeated suggestion, apparently you cannot just shoot the hostage and call it a draw…
Again, whether the weather, the undergrowth or hangovers, play was slow to advance. The rescuers inching forwards to the structures before freeing the hostage and “legging it” as the hostage takers respawned and rushed to retake him. Although at this point I ended up left behind as my fellow rescuers dissapeared into the distance, unfortunately the chasing team neglected to check the buildings leading to what could only be described as a fantastic 30 sec turkey shoot as they dutifully filed past…

Post lunch a large site wide game again seemed slow to get moving. I must admit I really like these games that ramble and leave room for guile as well as rate of fire. We quickly spotted one of the enemy teams objectives (a laptop) and staked out the apporaches to it. The OPFOR eventually arrived, leading to some great fighting in and around the trenches.

Finally, we lounged about largely knackered as some fun 1v1,2v2 and 3v3 games took place in and around the quarry. Great fun to watch and cheer the players on, especially worthy of mention was young Robbie shooting his uncle. Twice. Including a cracking headshot. well played fella…

One small hiccup in an otherwiose great day was Pikie not lookig where he was going, and winning a free trip to casualty to be glued/stitched back together… not from a BB but from a branch to the top of the head. Moral is look where you’re going!

And finally since I was trying out my new lens (you can never tell can you?), a gratuitous shot of Swampy…

Raptors have another away day planned. After the highly enjoyable trip to Anzio last year for the “Corps Wars” run by First and Only Airsoft, we’re off to take part in their “Mercs” game in April.
A Day of Private Military Companies, war-torn anarchic African tribesman (including us naturally), and some character players yet to be discovered. It all sounds good fun, and if the previous F+O games are anything to go by a cracking days airsoft.

Report to follow!

So a diminished but not beaten Raptors duo set out for NSC on a cold damp and windy Sunday. The NSC Forum had been busy with reports of numerous new and visiting players, although that had happened before with large bookings which subsequently fail to show. Annoying for the players, but even worse for the site owners I’m guessing.

Unfortunately the conditions prevented the use of the new additions to the Raptors armoury of a gleaming pair of Mosin Nagent carbines, courtesy of Swampy! (well played fella)

I arrived early and the car park quickly filled up with people having to park outside! Obviously it was going to be the biggest attendance for a long while, all those having booked actually having made it! it was fantastic to see a good number of regulars, new players, and experienced airsofters who had travelled to play.

The games kicked off by throwing all the regulars out of the way for a quick game so the safety brief could get done for new players onsite with the minimum of fuss and heckling!. A good idea that seemed to work well as well as ensuring all players get to shoot stuff with the minimum of delay.

The Warm Up and watch your back!

We kicked off with a quick game of “Quarridge” (from Quarry vs Village”), but with an interesting twist. Before we started cards were drawn and one player on each team was a spy who could dispatch his own team as he saw fit, obviously trying to remain undetected. As yours truly was the spy I waited for my team to storm into great defensive positions and then whilst shouting for players to watch out for non-existent fire coming in proceeded to slot the entire team one after another. (much fun I must admit… sorry all!) The game was over in minutes and the opposition appeared wondering where everyone was. All very satisfying I must admit, and gave the site-virgins a chance to listen to the brief without undue distraction.

It seems a much bigger site running around it…

Next up was a site wide game with a capture the real estate objective. This lasted till lunch, and ranged back and forth between several spawns and objectives. The Opfor seriously put us under pressure from the word go, pinning us down and making us fight for every inch, then as we concentrated an attack to pin them back into their village spawn the tide turned (at least on the bit of the battlefield I could see!). Listening to the team comms I could tell frantic attacks were being thrown in all over the place as we tried desperately to capture the objectives. As the last few minutes approached we were only holding 1 of the 3 objectives as I made a stealthy advance through the village towards the “camp site”. I’d checked the 2 guys in the Opfor spawn were going to be there a minute or 2 ( I say checked – I mean I offered to shoot them again) and as I crested the ridge I saw 3 defenders all with their back to me. So being a gentleman I shot 2 as fast as possible but the third reacted fast and dug into the bunker refusing come quietly! Almost simultaneously Errol had spawned behind me and started peppering my position. Faced with a fight on 2 fronts I retreated to a safe position and managed to take Errol down with a damn lucky shot before hearing 1 minute called by the marshals. Desperation now took hold as I advanced on the bunker again, only to have some of the Opfor detonate a remote pyro they had rigged in the bunker – taking out their own man! Hardly believing my luck I dived into the bunker to the sound of several enemies opening up. Bravely I hugged the ground hoping I could wait out the last few seconds as I dare not even try sticking my head out to see where all the fire was coming from – just as the marshal called Endex! Success by the narrowest of margins…

Straight after lunch was a solid trench clearance game. The regulars defended first, and the attacking side were relentless. Despite a fairly high kill rate mainly due to site knowledge the defenders were slowly overwhelmed by some stirling attacks, coupled with some epic pyro which turned the trenches into a mist-laden Somme. The determination to get to get through was admirable, and on the turn around the defence just as difficult to break as we tried every trick in the book to get through. Including the sneak attack from the gulley. Which I will admit to being half way up as the grenade landed just at my feet with nowhere to go… bugger.

Finally another site wide game with a task based objective. First of all find the suitcase, then recover it to our base and find out the last task. Thankfully we started from the trenches so no massive hike out! This time the Raptors duo paired up for some sneaking about, which found us in a tiny foxhole in the middle of the wood, with the enemy advancing I heard on comms that our team had “withdrawn” to re-group as the enemy had captured the case. Just what you need to hear! We spent a frantic few minutes climbing over each other desperately firing off mag after mag and managed a quite a few kills before the Opfor re-spawned, re-grouped and came at us organised. Needless to say we didn’t last long after that! However as they tried to break out of the wood with the case, we were able to mount a counter attack en route, steal the case before they could do anything about it, and due to some great running by our bomb tech win the day!

Overall, it was one of the best days I have had in a long while at NSC. Every player I saw got stuck in despite the cold damp conditions, and some fantastic game play made for some great games. Particular mention should go to the Airsoft commandos who had travelled a fair distance to be there,

and a special mention to Zippy and Co, who were fresh from having a trim the day before in aid of Help for Heroes. Well played lads, pleasure to get shot by you!

The more regular teams were out as well, obviously the Raps patch was in force!

But also the new Einherjar team under Toes erstewhile leadership…

and not to forget Halo, the longest serving team at NSC whose patch was still worn proudly by Sneak!

Cheers all who were there, including the refs, who gave us a great day out. Hopefully more to come!

But intend on getting there this year. 

Ground Zero’s National Airsoft Event is a biggy.  ‘The Weekender’ attracts over one thousand airsofters from around Europe and condenses them into a large, hilly wooded airsoft areana for a weekends socialising and shooting.

The site itself near Hazelwood is very large however having up to 500 per team on three teams means you are never far from a seriously large shoot up.  In recent years they have opened up a mature pine platation which provides an eery ardennes like forest to stalk through.  Particulary suitable for those of a sniper bent.

All types of airsoft can be encountered with CQB in the buildings, stalinkg in the woodland combined with the more open terrain of the 4×4 course giving open shoot outs between large groups.

Combined with an on site shop and bar its a cracking weekend with fellow airsofters and if you camp, a ‘social’ scene you wont forget.  Or in our case very often remember.

Last year we cancelled due there being no thursday camping, its a long way after all, however this year it may be back on and even if its not it left a big hole in the airsoft diary.  Hope to see you there.

http://www.groundzeroweekender.co.uk/NAE2011/Main.html

So October has arrived and so did Corps wars at First and Only’s site Anzio Camp.

The Weather God
We set off on Friday afternoon, negotiating the intricacies of the A1 roadwork’s and Sheffield’s third world style road system. As we headed across the hills the heavens opened and what appeared to be the start of another biblical flood descended on our happy band. My weather predictions of clear cold skies appeared to be seriously out…

We arrived in darkness just as the rain ceased and the skies cleared. (Oh ye of little faith) and found the barn that was to be digs for the weekend. First and Only had provided a big area where the cars could be brought in with plenty of room for all to bed down, and best of all out of the very cold wind, and with some portaloos!

The rest of the comrades arrived and soon there was a healthy Raptors contingent present. (Clone, George, Swampy and myself, plus a few NSC regulars, Rookie, Plumley and Caaw). We met up with the guys from Wasps and looked forward to a few sociable drinks and the weekend ahead!

FPS
First up on Saturday morning was the chrono’ing. Every gun gets chrono’d, which I personally think is a great idea. With a few caveats.

Almost without exception, every player I spoke to said their gun chrono’d significantly higher than they expected, usually in the region of 20-30 fps higher. Also after putting several BBs through the chrono it would take only a single reading of more than 350fps to get a gun sidelined, and I mean a single reading. One player I witnessed had a single round of 351fps, the rest all significantly lower, and the AEG was not allowed.

I had an AEG chrono’d Sunday morning, at first no problems readings were between 312 and 320fps. But for no reason I can determine there was a reading of 380fps on a shot! It was only after we proved the AEG with another chrono (and about 20 shots, all less than 320fps did the marshal accept that the first chrono was faulty and my AEG allowed.

It also nagged at me that with chrono’s giving such wildly varying results, and any AEG testing even slightly hot in the game getting the player kicked from site, that a player who honestly allowed their RIF to be tested before game start could find themselves on the wrong end of a duff reading and kicked later. Not a confidence building situation.

Whether it was the weather, or faulty chrono’s, or operator error I don’t know. But unless players can have complete faith in a sites chronos it can damage the atmosphere severely. Personally, mine will be checked again on a full bore chrono accepted by the local Police for weapons checks. Maybe they were right and mine have been consistently chrono’d low previously. I’ll let you know.

Don’t misunderstand; I applaud the F+O approach to safety. It should be a priority, and hot guns ruin gameplay. But I think you can be over zealous, and marshals should be allowed to apply some common sense in interpreting the reliability of the results.

Intel
So, onto the briefing, a carefully devised intel briefing and some great team leaders helped build the atmosphere for the role playing aspect of the weekend. Despite being warned to pace ourselves, from the off the team piled into some frantic building to building firefights.

The buildings at Anzio are ideal for airsoft. Reasonably spaced out and with doors and room largely intact. The undergrowth has been allowed to run riot in areas making dead ground passable with care and allowing you to get within range of a building to make assaults.

The semi only rule inside buildings and with 15 feet of a structure works well, (indeed I found myself sticking to semi only fire most of the time out of habit) as does the medic rule. Every player carries a bandage. The first time you are shot, you have 5 minutes for any other team mate to apply your field dressing and you’re back in, if not done in time you “bleed out” and must head to the respawn. Next time you must go to the respawn. It encourages team-mates to make that effort to revive you and makes for some exciting “rescue” runs! The time to respawn also makes it important not to throw lives away as there is real consequence to losing players in the middle of a firefight.

Kudos to you all!
I must comment on the sportsmanship on the Saturday here. It was probably the best I have ever seen. Every hit seemed to be called, players were almost gushing in their praise of the opposition and very sporting in not giving away enemy locations after they’d been hit, or over-magging. More than once I witnessed two opposing players walk away from a corner, shake hands and agree to take a hit to avoid dangerous close range shots. To every player I encountered on Saturday, well played, you were all fantastic airsofters.

Capitol Americas Rock! (for a while!)
As a team we rampaged across the site. Storming buildings and even stealing enemy flags (not for points or objectives but because we could!). In some of the best CQB fighting I have taken part in, I spent most of the afternoon with my ears ringing from grenades or wishing the wall or doorway was that providing cover was a bit wider. Frantic dashes and yelling for support figured highly!

As a result the CA captured a hatful of objectives and territory. But inevitably with 3 teams in opposition it was not to last. As the light faded and our base exposed in a field became vulnerable we seemed to become the target of wave after wave of attacks, to compound this I took a dive on top of my AK Beta and ended up with a stock in one hand and the rest of the AEG in the other, and by the close of play in the dark Saturday night we had been comprehensively mauled and our gains stolen.

The Come-uppance
Sunday dawned (and it was bloody freezing!) and the CA tem discovered as a result of the battering at the close of play the night before we had to fight our way to our own Command point to start with! The day started little better than the night before as it appeared all 3 team had agreed to give us a kicking, and they went to work on it with relish. We had a hard struggle to regain our CP and then faced concerted attacks from several sides with teams that appeared reluctant to attack each other. Probably a well deserved consequence of our early successes the day before!

But even midst the chaos and carnage of the seemingly endless attacks the team work held and we had some great battles. I had a great time storming the garage with Rookie, and the nervous tension was high as we cleared building after building again.

Unfortunately we had to clear out a couple of hours early to make the trip back home, but we left absolutely knackered and smiling!

De-brief
So, all in all, a great weekend. It went a long way to restoring my faith in airsoft “events” after the last Catterick outing. F+O have got themselves possibly one of the best airsoft sites in the country, as long as they continue to judge the team numbers and pace of the games as they have this weekend. It was not crowded and there was a chance to flank the opposition, but conversely a firefight was never far away if that was what you wanted.

The marshals took a light touch approach which seemed to work well and there was enough role play to make it interesting and fun with becoming hard core mil-sim and a chore.

Because of the distance, probably not a day trip site for me personally. But one I will definitely keep an eye on and I hope to be at the next episode of Corps Wars.

…and for next time. No deals. Not with anyone…

A smallish team presence (GotJ, Swampy, Clone and myself) at NSC this week made for some good softing. The undergrowth is still thick and jungle like in areas as you can see

Heartbreaking to see the vandalism on some of the structures on site, but some great short games and some enthusiastic first timers who really got stuck in and made the games very close and tense. Only 4 of us playing though(although Derka showed up to pimp some gear!) – and the others sorely missed (hurry back guys!)

Personally, it was a chance to give my SPR Mod 0 a run out, it’s first in a very long time, combined with testing out a new tan warrior chest rig and tan fleece. All in preparation for Corps Wars next month. First impressions were great, all very comfortable and the SPR shoots well with it’s new inner barrel and hop (I’ve previously used it as a crash mat and smashed the stock off…). Interesting using mid-caps, love not having to wind them, but realised just how trigger happy I am with my beloved AK105!

Later on in the afternoon, took my new camera for a spin to capture some action and managed to find George leading the assault as usual!

He seemed to be having great fun with his new AK, judging my the amount of giggling and hit calling going on…

All in all a good day. Nice to see some of the lads out again, and look forward to being back there in a fortnight… now what gun to use then?

Leek and a days shooting with the boys. Off to First and Only Anzio site with the WASPS and some others in tow.. Cant wait.