Airsoft plantation article
- By Pete Moore
- Last updated: 16/12/2016
Having been very kindly invited to Airsoft Plantation’s Skirmish Weekender I conscripted my two closest friends Nina and Zoe (who had no idea what they were in for) and headed down to Stock near Billericay in Essex for the weekend of 4th -5th May.
We Have Choppers…
After a fair amount of shivering, some bacon butties and a briefing, we headed over to an adjoining field for a second briefing about correct behaviour in the helicopters – yes HELICOPTERS!! Somehow John from Rules of Engagement had called in a few favours, maybe there was blackmail involved, I’m not sure, but he managed to get two Squirrel helicopters plus pilots to fly over the battlefields taking with them a few lucky passengers. Having never been in a helicopter before I was ridiculously overexcited and bounced around like a hyperactive puppy until we took off where I am told all the onlookers could hear was a loud cry of wheeeeeeeeee! Oh the shame.
5th Columnists
Skirmishing was split into 3 teams – Military, Rebels and Villagers with each side using a different Camo pattern so it was possible to distinguish between them unless you were a villager (like me and my friends) we had the ability to frequently switch sides even during fire fights and were basically there to cause havoc, shoot whoever we wanted and confuse the op forces – sounds pretty ideal for me!
Having rather changeable weather on the day we took a quick break to hand out some copies of Gun Mart and speak to Matt from WE Airsoft who had a very impressive display of gas-blow backs and who after pinching my BB’s all day let us have a quick go with the new Katanas and Raptors, very nice! He also gave Nina some lessons with a new WE L85 Gas Blowback.
The Long Weekend
Unfortunately we were unable to stay for the following days action and had too head home but I have it on very good authority that fighting continued throughout the night and there were a fair few CQB ‘kills’ plus grenades going off all over the place. No one got a decent night’s sleep – well why would you? And there were some desperate faces the next morning when yet another of ROE’s big surprises was unveiled. Not content with the awesome factor of helicopters, there was a light aeroplane dropping off supplies to teams but beware! All was not as it seemed, as people ran to pick up the desperately needed supplies the plane returned – this time for a bombing run!
All in all what a fantastic weekend, very well organised and it was fantastic to see so many people there getting into it plus as a cheeky bonus I have converted one friend to Airsoft as a result (still have to work on the other).
These events are run on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month by Rules Of Engagement with specialist weekenders like this being announced on their Facebook page on a regular basis. The site has 35 acres of scrub and woodland, 4 bridges, a missile solo, border control, gun emplacements, on-site shop and recharging service, toilets, burger bar etc… and all for a £20 walk on fee or all-in hire parties from £50 per person. I urge you to try this site out, you will not be disappointed.