Alpha One, Wakefield Charity Game in Support of The Pilgrim Bandits.

On the 3rd of May I was invited to attend the Alpha One Yorkshire VS. Lancashire Charity Game that takes place every year in support of The Pilgrim Bandits - a great charity set up by Special Forces Veterans that supports injured service personnel (http://pilgrimbandits.org/) by one of my followers on Instagram @taskforcewarrior so myself and 3 of my team mates from Grey Fox made the drive to Yorkshire.



The game took place at Alpha One in Wakefield, Yorkshire - around a 2 hour drive north of my hometown in Derbyshire. The drive was very easy - straight up the A38 and then the M1, the site is very close to the exit on the M1 as well, it is the easiest drive I have ever had to a site which is always a bonus! It is signposted which is always very helpful. The site boasts a large car park but on the day of the charity event, with hundreds of players, it became full, very fast – I was however directed to a suitable place to park on the side of the road by the on site marshals.

Booking on took place on the Alpha One website and payment was made at the same time via PayPal which is always incredibly quick and simple! The price for the Charity Game was £30 walk on and included a hog roast lunch! When we arrived at Alpha One, we were greeted by the sites Marshals and confirmed our places with the staff on the reception.
 The safe zone was a large cluster of sheltered booths set around a clearing which was easily large enough to accommodate the amount of players on the day however, the booths were quite crowded when you consider how much gear the average Airsofter takes to a game!
 The safe zone had a small shop that stocked all the beebs, gas and pyros that you would need for the day, and just outside was a small pop up shop selling RIFS and the Pilgrim Bandits stand where you could buy merchandise to support the charity.

Chrono was performed in a purpose built target area just outside of the safe zone, using 0.2g BBs. The site limits are 350 FPS for AEGs, 400 for DMRs and 500 for Sniper Rifles with a 25 metre minimum engagement distance. Chrono was performed by the sites marshals who were professional on the day, helpful and had a great sense of humour. One of the things that I really liked about Alpha One was that their female Marshals Kirsty and Juju were appointed as the two team leaders - I really love seeing women in leadership positions on the Airsoft field!

The Alpha One site itself is quite impressive, it is 110 acres of woodland with many different structures built to enhance gameplay. I'm not sure of the average game day numbers but at the charity event, there was at least 170 player spaces on the booking form, which makes for fast paced, intense game play. The woodland itself is a natural wood so it has gulleys and steep hills that are great for firefights and in between these natural formations are a CQB castle used for attack and defend games, a Star Gate (which has to be the most weird and wonderful prop I've seen at an airsoft site!) and other built up pieces of cover. My favourite was definitely the Star Gate, however, the simplicity of towers and pipes placed around the site you can climb up and in really does appeal to me haha.

As I could only stay at the site until 4.30, I only managed to get in 4 games (because of torrential rain and other extenuating circumstances we didn't start the first game until 11am). Our first game was a team death match, which was fast paced and got everyone in the mood for the days activities! We then played capture the flag, a card capturing game where each player was given a card from a playing card deck and the cards were to be captured by the opposing team - the higher the card, the higher the points scored and lastly the battle between the Yorks and Lancs forces! I played for the Lancs side (even though I'm a Derbyshire lass through and through)



The games were ran well, with clear and concise safety briefings which players adhered to, one of the difficult things about a woodland site in the wind and rain with the distances involved is gauging whether you have actually hit a player, so there were a few incidences of cheat calling however they were dealt with swiftly and professionally by the Marshals. Remember, if in doubt, ask a marshal!

One thing I loved about the site was how friendly the other players were, I had the pleasure to meet  fair few of my Instagram followers which is always a great including @taskforcewarrior and @luke_tw! There was a great atmosphere in the safe zone when we returned from a game, that was full of camaraderie and banter. The mix of players included experienced and newbies which I think always makes for interesting game play!

Later in the evening there was a chance to listen to a talk by ex SAS Rusty Firmin and a National Hero Ben Parkinson at the site over a free bar which unfortunately I couldn't make but from what I heard from my team members was it was an interesting and informative talk! If I didn't have work, I definitely would have stayed for the duration of the evening. Overall the event raised £1500 in cash on the day and there's even more coming in! Which is fantastic! It was a fab day all round with great food, laughs and even a raffle. I would definitely like to return to Alpha One for a regular game day to compare the two! (First two photographs thanks to the on site photographers!) Check them out at www.alphaoneairsoft.com!

- Kelly xo





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April 2015 UKAC Admin Meet Up at Ironsight, Andover, UK.


On the 25th of April, me and a few of my Grey Fox 348 team mates made the 2.5 hour journey from Derby in the Midlands to Andover, down South to meet up and play a game with my fellow UKAC Admins at Ironsight (http://www.ironsightairsoft.co.uk/), their home site.

 
The 300 mile round trip consisted of dull British Motorways in very dull British weather, included 28 miles worth of Average Speed Checks and of course, road works! But despite all that, the drive was clear and easy. The distance meant we stayed overnight on the Saturday and had a hilarious evening full of drinks and banter before the days airsoft shenanigans! The site is located in Andover, UK and is easy to get to from the A303 and a short drive through the village of Andover, it is well signposted so is fairly easy to find. There is ample car parking available at the site but get there early so you get a decent spot in the safe zone! 

The site was previously a mushroom farm and has been transformed into one of the most impressive CQB sites I have personally been to. It is split into different areas for play, consisting of two main building complexes and a dockyard. The first building complex houses the reception area to sign in, a small shop where you can purchase all the beebs, pyro and gas needed for the day, an indoor range and a large safe zone capable of accommodating around 60 players and their gear. It's also home to 6 rooms of play which all have different themes and impressive structures such as the train room, the slaughter room and the Aztec room which are connected by a central corridor. The second building complex is of a similar lay out but has a Post Apocalyptic theme, however I didn't experience any game play in that area. The Dockyard has plenty of barricaded areas and cover to defend. I really loved all the effort the Ironsight team has put into the decoration of their site – it definitely
makes for interesting game play!

 
Booking can be done by phone, getting in touch via their website or their Facebook group and payment is taken on the day at sign in. We booked on via Facebook and the walk on fee was £25 which included lunch, which surprisingly was a cheeseburger and beans - which is undoubtedly the best food I've ever had at an Airsoft game and makes a pleasant change! The site staff are all really friendly and welcoming to both frequent players and those who had never played the site, they even got stuck in with the accent banter that was prevalent during the day! (You can’t put that many Northerners and Southerners together without it! Haha!) We were lucky to get a tour of the site the day before from one of the sites Airsoft managers so we were kind of familiar with the terrain before the game which was a huge help. Tours are also given before briefing on the day. The staff were also really helpful when I had to wash my eye out due to being green gassed by one of the other players when my Glock 18c decided to have a moment.

Chrono is performed in a dedicated area and the sites limit is 350FPS on 0.2g BBs for AEGs, 420FPS for DMRs with a Minimum Engagement Distance of 15 metres and 500FPS for Sniper Rifles with an MED of 20 metres, which is pretty standard across the board. All players were given a comprehensive safety brief by the one of the sites Airsoft Managers before game on so everyone is clear on the rules for the day! If you're from the Midlands or any further North bring a translator ;) Haha.

During the course of the day we played a variety of game modes including a Team Death Match to get the day started and everyone warmed up! My favourite games of the day were the 3 stage attack in which both teams took part in defending and attacking different areas around the game site and the drug packages game where each team had to collect all the ‘drugs packages’ and escort their VIP to a designated area. The games ran smoothly and progressed well. One of the elements to the day that really makes it or breaks it for me is the level of sportsmanship from the other players! I wasn’t disappointed, the other players were honest and courteous about taking their hits! There was plenty of banter throughout the day from both sides which is always great to see! Most of the other players were happy to engage in conversations with people they had never met which is one of the things that make airsofters so awesome! I had the chance to meet a load of great members from the UKAC including Steve Morris from Token Airsoft and his team The Devil Monkey's and the sites home team, The House Of Wolves.

At the end of this month I am returning to Ironsight for their 2nd Birthday Game! I'm really looking forward to it as I really enjoyed the day and the site is ran very well. The price was in line with other walk on fees up and down the country however the food was well above average. Overall, a really great day!.
 
 
 
Contact details: 01264 726490
IronSight Airsoft
Goodworth Clatford
Andover
Hampshire
SP11 7LF

 Group photos thanks to Dave Cole.
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