Colin Allen

Today I was at Airsoft Plantation along with about 160 other eager players. My first task on arriving was to set the hops and check the power on two new guns, an MPi-KMS and a WellPro We06 PPK-20; the former dialed in at 1.04J and the latter at 1.09J, both with excellent range and flight. In the first game, we (the red team) started at Swaziland; we had to obtain a crate containing six smoke bombs from the DEA Base and take the crate to each target in turn and set the smoke bombs off. The targets were the hill fort and the Bedford on that side of the firebreak and the well, the Cock Inn, the casino and any of the border bridges on the other side. We had infinite regens on a marshal, while the defenders had two lives on each side of the firebreak. The defenders put up a good fight for the DEA base but we overran them and grabbed the crate from the Cessna; the hill fort was soon bombed and, after a short delay, a couple of us ran the crate up to the Bedford and smoked it out. There was then a delay so that the blue team could set up their defences on the other side of the firebreak. Once we were unleashed, I followed my usual approach of attacking the village from the far end; advancing through the woods, I took out a few enemy players before meeting up with colleagues; the enemy put up a hard fight for the village but we eventually bombed the well and the Cock Inn. As the enemy had lost so many lives defending the village, there were very few of them left to defend the casino and the border, which were bombed very rapidly. Following the usual short break to mag up, the game was reversed; we did not know what the targets were. At the DEA base, I took up a position behind the wrecked biplane, from where I was able to shoot some of the attackers from their flank, before eventually being taken out. I fell back to the mortar pits and scored a few hits before receiving a little present from either a sniper rifle or a DMR. Eventually, the first two targets were bombed and we reset on the other side of the firebreak; learning from the blue team's error, we divided our forces to cover both the village and the border area. The enemy pushed hard, but timed out in the village. Luncheon was then taken, after which we played Ambush Alley. As the attackers, we had to march up the main street of the village en masse, being unable to shoot until we were fired on by the defenders, We had infinite regens at our start point, while the defenders had two lives. Our objective was to get a live player into the building at the far end of the street. Once shooting had started, we could go anywhere. I assumed my usual tactical (ahem!) position at the rear of the column; as we marched (shambled?) forward, the marshals threw a large number of smoke bombs to add to the atmosphere. An enemy player opened fire early, before quite a few of us had even entered the village, which meant that we could quickly spread out to the sides while about 60% of the team regened. The fight through the village and the scrubland to the right was epic, with great play from both sides. Eventually, one of our players made it into the target building. In the reverse, we made sure that everyone knew not to open fire until the head of the enemy's column had reached the half way point, as that would give us a great opportunity to send them all back to regen. Unfortunately, somebody either did not get the memo or lost track of where the enemy were amid the thick smoke and opened fire early despite my repeated shouts of "Hold". Realising that the enemy were likely to try to flank us, a group of us moved to the left to prevent any of them pushing through the scrubland; we had a great set of fights between the bushes and along the little paths, trading hits with the blue team. Having taken one hit, I was hit again and wandered back into the safezone. The game ended soon after, with the blue team taking 27 seconds longer that we had, which was amazingly close for such a long game. It was now 16:00 and a fair number of players left. Those of us who stayed set off to play domination/capture the flag in the woods. Our flag was at the border end of the woods, while the blue team's was at the wobbly bridge. The twist in the game was that both sides started in the middle. At a count of three, we had to start moving towards our flag and, after a time known only to him, the site owner would start the game. Everyone had two lives. A group of us decided to run back to defend our flag while other team members moved back more slowly so that they would be further forward when the game started. Having taken up a defensive position, I spotted a blue player sneaking around our right flank; he had either skilfully worked his way around our forward players or had hit a few of them and pushed through. Either way, he had done really well. I shot him; he looked disappointed as he turned to trudge back to regen. As no other blue players appeared, most of us decided to move up and reinforce our colleagues; as we did so, we met increasing numbers of dead blue players heading back to the safe zone. Our arrival helped our colleagues to push forward and capture the blue flag. Hurrah! It was a typical AP day; the games were well designed, hit taking was excellent, play was good and the marshalling was unobtrusive but effective. I suspect that mrfoxhound would have enjoyed it. I cannot play next Sunday as we are in the studio working on songs for our first festival gig of the year and for the fifth album, so my next game will be at either Splatoon or Dragon's Lair the following weekend. Weapons used: Classic Army HK33 Classic Army HK53 WellPro We06 PPK-20 ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

Of all their crimes, that is the wurst.

Tested this morning at AP; 1.09J and pushing BBs out to 60m.

Oh, the irony.

Yes, it has returned.

I have made a couple of really good purchases through AirsoftHub; however, on both occasions, I dealt with the seller face to face.

I ran one of these for a while several years ago; I found that it got in the way.

I bought this barely used Well Pro WE06 PPK-20 and five mags for a very decent price. All I have done so far is change the very basic mosfet for an AB++, fit a Macaron and omega nub, and fit an SHS high torque motor. It is very snappy and runs nicely on 11.1v.

Well, that will only have taken seven years! Perhaps after that has been done, they could sort out the PP19 100 round midcaps so that they feed properly; they have been a known issue for much longer.

If the site had identified a risk of people attempting to cheat the chrono and someone had managed to do so, the site would very possibly be found to be at fault as their measures to prevent it happening were inadequate. Anyway, I am out of this discussion; it is like trying to have a rational conversation with a flat earther.

You have my deepest sympathies.

Nice! Well done!

Which is exactly the same situation as at the vast majority of other sites. Intentional cheats will lie about BB weights, use different BBs to chrono and dial up the hop.

20.7mm is a long AK nozzle, which matches the tappet plate.

Is it better though if people are still getting caught in the morning? It clearly isn’t doing what it is supposed to. There are chronos at AP and people use them. I have known people to do so and then put a gun back in the bag because it is hot; my mate Tom did so recently. It is about the culture and ethos of the site; wankers don’t seem to last long there.

Fixed that for you. You don’t know about the ones who are not caught. You may not have realised it, but that post was an admission that what you regard as “better chrono practices” are not as effective as you seem to think.

That “rock ape” is possibly having to chrono 100+ players, many of whom have more than one gun to chrono. Having done that job at two different sites, you have to take some of what you are told on trust and assume that players have not dialed the hop up as far as it will go, which does leave the process open to abuse. However, the key point is that the vast majority of sites only look at the velocity limit for the declared weight. Random in game sampling including weighing of BBs is possibly the best approach and certainly provides a deterrent, especially when the penalty is to be sent home. One of the things that I really like about AP is that they stick to what they say in the briefing. Unlike so many sites, they do not hesitate to send people home if they ignore warnings about hit taking, MED abuse and other poor behaviour.

You would be avoiding an awful lot of sites.

Err, no. If someone's gun chronos at 310fps and they state that they have 0.25s in their mag, but are actually running 0.30s, it is very likely that they are going to get away with it at most sites, because very few sites check the power in addition to the velocity. I use that example because I saw someone do it at a site; I ratted him out.

Which isn't really that different from the situation at the vast majority of sites. "What weight are you using?" "25s." "Yeah, you're fine." A) Player returns to his table and his bottle of 0.30g BBs. or B) When going out for the first game, Player resets his hop to where it should be. You don't like the way AP do it, that is fine. In all the times I have been there, I have never heard of anyone complaining about a potentially hot gun.

This! If you do just one thing, do this!

As for not checking any weapons before the first game, I have seen that done at AP and have been checked before the first game.

I cannot find the airsoft insurance details from when we had it for one off events, but it did not require us to chrono all guns, only those that had changes made to them since they were last checked. Neither did it state that they had to be checked by us. Regarding AP, chronos are available just outside the safe zone and players routinely use them; marshals then randomly check on the field. It is made very clear that anyone found with a hot gun will be sent home. When I first went there, this surprised me; however, having played there a lot, it is the only site where I have never come across complaints about players potentially having hot guns. There is something about the culture of the site, the way it is run and the attitude of the very large number of regular players that seems to prevent it being a problem. The other sites I play at chrono every gun; I do not feel any safer at them, probably less so.

What? WTF is that word salad?

Iturri boots are great; the Cold Wet Weather boots are my regular walking boots and have survived everything that Dartmoor can throw at them, while being almost as comfortable as the patrol boots. The lad lives in his Iturri patrols and has a pair of the Cold Wet Weather boots for Dartmoor, the Peak District and wandering around Sennybridge with an L85.