Hey friends!
Welcome back to the blog! On the bank holiday weekend, I travelled down to Yatesbury to play an airsoft site that I’ve played in the past but didn’t review at the time. It’s changed a little in the time since I last played and I felt like it deserved a review.
The Base CQC or ‘RAF Yatesbury’ was once an RAF airfield and training facility during the First and Second World Wars and up until its closure in 1965. In the time since its closure, this facility has degraded and become overgrown making it the perfect backdrop for urban warfare. The Base CQC is located near the village of Yatesbury in Wiltshire and is a 2 and a half-hour drive from my home in the midlands - most of this spent on the M42 and M5. The drive is relatively easy - featuring mostly motorways and then some winding country lanes. Like the other F&O sites I’ve visited, it is signposted on the road so is easy to find. From the country lane, there is a dirt track that has quite a few potholes so it is a bit of a bumpy ride.
On arrival, we were greeted by a friendly marshal at the gate to the site, temperature checked and after being checked off the booking list we were directed where to park. The parking is quite tight at The Base so try to car share where possible. The safe zone is the car park and you set up at your car (my fave!). It’s worth noting due to COVID restrictions you have to wear your mask in the safe zone if you’re near anyone not in your bubble. The safe zone has a unisex portaloo and a small onsite shop for consumables such as gas and BBs. There aren’t many seats so it’s advisable to bring a camp chair and food isn’t included so don’t forget lunch!
The site consists of a small road system with a lot of buildings surrounded by dense bracken woodland. The buildings range from small open-air structures such as the old toilet block that still has the frames of its wooden windows intact, a large building with immense halls and bay windows called the Officers mess and my personal favourite the kill-house: a long building missing its roof and floor taking it back to barebones where you can fight room to room or range down the long corridor.
The briefing is around 9 am and Selfie gave a comprehensive safety brief - explaining the dos and don’ts of the site, what smoke and bangs are allowed on site and what to do if an emergency should arise. F&O The Base is a single and full-auto site (full-auto can only be used outside the buildings)). The site limits are as follows: AEG 350 FPS, DMRs must be locked to semi 425 FPS and bolt action Sniper rifles 500 FPS. The site rules are in line with most other sites. The safety brief is delivered well and with confidence. The staff at The Base CQC were really friendly and helpful on the day.
The games at the Base CQC are pretty varied and included both team deathmatches and objective-based games. The first game of the day was a TDM to make sure the teams were balanced. One particular highlight was an objective-based game where we had to attack objectives that were scattered around the site - missile tubes with red and blue tape on them which we had to turn to our team colour. There were some intense battles over the objectives during this game so it was easy to find some action and get stuck in.
My favourite game that we played throughout the day was the attack and defend that utilises the whole site. We were the defending team after lunch and I started at the small camo net fort structure near the road which saw a lot of action - it provided great cover from the attackers and after they successfully drove us out we went to the next area of play which was the officer's mess, this building is always fun to fight through because of the variations in light and the number of ways the attackers can get into the building. Lastly, we defended the hill at the very back of the site which is a hard slog to attack because the defenders have the height advantage and the advantage of the shrubbery. We swapped this game around so we were the attacking team and had some great gameplay.
Is there anything that I think can be improved? I’d like to see another portaloo, not specifically female only but just another to lighten the load - we all know how portaloos smell when they’re full, on a hot day.
The price of the day is £30 for none-members (Silver and Gold members get discounts of £5 and £10 respectively) which is paid in advance on the website. A rental package is £15 and includes an AEG, a magazine of BBs and protective clothing, due to COVID they aren’t hiring out eye pro and facemasks so you will be required to purchase them on the day if you don’t already have one.
Overall, I had a great day at The Base CQC - the staff are friendly and helpful, the site itself has varied gameplay and a bunch of cool features, the only thing I struggled with on the day is the height of the windows - climbing into them when you’re 5”3 is a bit of a task but apart from that, it was a really pleasant gameday in a cool location.
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