As the use of smoke grenades has become more and more popular in airsoft, we have seen Enola Gaye – the worldwide leading manufacturer of pyrotechnics - release more products to satisfy airsofters needs for concealment and usually it’s the bigger, the better with players wanting to smoke out their competition and get the upper hand! So whenever the company releases a new product you would regularly get more than you would before! However this time EG has reverse engineered their famous WP40 to give the consumer a whole bunch less, but, why?
In game situations a thick smoke cover is what players strive for to give them a screen of cover, but there are situations where less is definitely more, and one thing I’ve found whilst working with the guys from EG is that when you need a smoke effect for a photographic shoot, you don’t always need the entire area smoked out. The new EG25 offers users a super compact unit – which is also absolutely adorable with being the size of a glue stick – that has a considerable output but for around 30 seconds. This gives photographers and players more than enough time to get the shot they’re after and means it clears relatively quickly meaning you can get on with the next shot even if it features another colour of smoke.
What I really, really like about the EG25 Micro Smokes is the size of them, we all know that anything in miniature size is cute – be it shower gel, deodorant, whatever the item is, it’s definitely cuter in miniature and these are no different! The size makes it easy to carry a load of them in a backpack or dump pouch without weighing you down too much. Whilst I was testing the range of smokes, they on average lasted around 26 seconds, had a good output and the smoke colour is true to the colour of their bigger counterparts. The time/output combined means the smoke clears quickly and easily from an area which means less time between shoots waiting for colours to clear.
The EG25 Micro Smokes are available in the full colour range (8 colours) and they use the Wire Pull igniter. They’re available as a single smoke or in packs of 10 from Enola Gaye dealers (some will even let you mix and match colours) and prices do vary but whilst I’ve been at events with the team, the prices have been super affordable. Check with your local EG stockist for deets!
Overall, I think EG has done a fab job with the EG25 Micro Smoke – from the size to the output and even price point they seem to have got it just right. I can see these becoming a staple in airsoft photographer’s kit in the near future. It’s also awesome to see the brand catering for a different aspect of the sport.
PINK SMOKE
Soon to be released to the UK market is something I have been waiting for, for almost 3 years! After adding black to their line of colours late 2016, Enola Gaye is yet again adding another colour to their already impressive line of smokes - PINK! YES! One sunny afternoon whilst attending the Midlands Airsoft Fair at the Gaol Events in Oakham I heard the shout ‘We don’t make pink smoke’ originate from a smiling face at the Enola Gaye booth – I turned my head and raised my sunglasses and shouted back ‘well you should’ and it has finally come to fruition!
Eventually we will see the pink smoke released in all smoke products including the EG25, EG18, EG18X and SD75 but we will see the pink WP40s released first, so whether you are a player that needs a heavy smoke screen that lasts for minutes or a photographer that wants just the right amount of smoke for ‘that shot’ Enola Gaye will have you covered.
So what’s the colour like? Having a lot of experience with smoke grenade photoshoots it wouldn’t be unusual for us to use red smoke as it has quite a ‘pinky’ hue to it, ‘so surely it’s just red smoke? Red smoke looks pink’ you may be thinking but when you put a pink and red WP40 together, the red smoke looks far more orange and shows the pink to be a true fuchsia hue – it’s bright and the output is what we would expect for a WP40. Needless to say, I am absolutely in love with the colour and think it’ll be a big hit among photographers, street artists and airsofters alike.
Pink smoke was released in Canada late last year, in the US earlier this year, and it looks like the UK will be set to get them later this year/early 2019.
Hardwick, K. (2018). SMOKE THE RAINBOW. Airsoft Action. 80 (November), 24-25.
Over the winter months, I have been searching for a lightweight softshell that is both affordable and weather resistant. After sampling a few jackets from different brands I’ve found a suitable, affordable soft shell from an unlikely source – Enola Gaye!
Enola Gaye is the worldwide leading pyrotechnics manufacturer – covering airsoft/milsim, simulation, training and their products have even been featured in blockbuster films such as King Kong. There’s no denying that their products are the best in the biz and their branding is impeccable! Since discovering EG in 2016, their soft goods so far have been pretty much my daily apparel but can a company that primarily produces things that go boom, give us practical apparel for our sport? That’s exactly what they’ve done with the TechOne jacket.
What are the features of the TechOne? It is a windproof, semi-water resistant softshell jacket with 2 x zip pockets too, and I quote ‘keep your sh*t safe’ and a high collar to protect your neck from wind and of course those ‘unexpected knife slashes’. The pockets have textured zip pulls which makes them easy to manipulate even in adverse weather and with gloves on. The inner lining has a fleece-like feel which is comfortable on the skin and helps keep you warm, as it is still lightweight it’s pretty comfy to wear in the British springtime when the weather is a little warmer. The jacket also features loop Velcro on both arms, ready for the player’s favourite patches.
How is the fit? I have both the TechTwo jacket (model with the hood) in grey and the TechOne in black from EG and I will say the fit on the TechOne is much better in my opinion, I opted for a size small and the garment is true to size. It fits well around my shoulders and is roomy without being baggy, unlike the TechTwo it isn’t too long in the body and the arms are a good length as they end just past my wrists. It also features Velcro cuffs to adjust the fit on the wrists and also to keep any drafts out. Overall, I’m really happy with the fit!
The TechOne jacket from EG comes in a few colourways including Tan, Grey, Black and Olive so there’s a colour to suit any loadout, unfortunately, they don’t come in any camouflage options yet which is a development that I would really like to see! In regards to size, it is available in small (which is the size I opted for) all the way up to an extra-large, so the size range is inclusive.
The TechOne jacket retails at £39.00 from Enola Gaye’s website which is a really good price point on a windproof and semi water resistant softshell, cheap enough to have one for each loadout, which is my plan. One development I would love to see on the Tech jacket line is underarm zippers to cool down the body during game days!
Hardwick, K. (2018) Smoking Jacket?. Airsoft Action. 89 (July), 63.
Next up in my series of SHOT Show 2018 coverage, we have a new product from pyrotechnics baes Enola Gaye!
Introducing the MIL-X2! The next instalment in the MIL-X series that follows on from their popular MIL-X smoke grenade. This grenade will only be available to law enforcement and military but its development is bound to lead to some dope airsoft products in the future. This will come in both flashbang and smoke versions but initially, it will be a flashbang distraction device. It has a 2-3 second fuse delay, a 130 dB bang at 15ft with a visible white flash.
Hey everyone! So I get a lot of questions about my time spent in the States, and MilSim West: Objective Stavropol is always a topic of conversation! When I was asked this weekend about it I remembered, I hadn't posted the blog post of MSW so here it is!
On the 26th April 2017 myself, Unicorn Leah and Jet Desertfox flew from Ontario, California to San Jose, CA and then finally onto Seattle, Washington for the next instalment of MilSim West. As many of you will know from watching Leah and Jet's social media feeds that they are avid MilSim West fans and they took me along to pop my MilSim West cherry. We arrived in Washington a little early - a couple of days in fact so we had a few days to chill before the game. On our first night we visited the 'Rep House' to hang out with the Rushing Russians. After our stay at the Rep House we made the enormous drive from Seattle to our next stop - an Airbnb in Centreville which was around 5 hours away via car. On the drive through it seemed like we drove through every season/every terrain - from the snowy mountains to the rolling green hills. Washington is absolutely gorgeous. We arrived at the Cadre house in the afternoon and set about relaxing before the event. We left for the op location at 12pm the next day.
Once we arrived at the op location after a short 30 minute drive and we started to get kitted up and reshuffled our rucks ready, whilst we were getting our gear sorted we met up with the rest of our section which included Omar from Enola Gaye, PNW Punk, Dayton from The House Gamers, Poi and Lupe who is behind the IG account Slayerella. We spent the next few hours chatting, preparing our kit and eating in the barn waiting for the game to kick off later that evening.
At 7pm our briefing began, the Russian and Militia Cadre briefed us on what the next 36 hours would entail, the AO and the mission we had to undertake - remove NATO forces from the area, by any means necessary. They then made sure we had everything we would need - we had to lay out all of our kit and show our Cadre that we had everything on the tacsop document. Due to the testing nature of these games it is super important that everyone is prepared to prevent discomfort and injury.
At sunset, all Russian and Militia forces organised into their sections and mobilised, we slung on our rucks and started walking in formation to our first FOB which was around 1 mile into AO, the walk took us around 20-30 minutes. I've never had to ruck anywhere before so this was a completely new experience for me, it was tough going but we all completed the walk.
It was almost pitch black when we arrived at our Militia FOB location so it was pretty tough going with uneven ground from rabbit warrens, debris from fallen trees and rocks protruding from the ground. When we got to our location we set up a defensive perimeter as our squads prepared their kit for the night. Militia HQ squad went out on a raid during the early hours of the morning and for Lupe (@slayerella) and I, it was time for STAG duties. We were on STAG for around 3-4 hours, we positioned ourselves amongst a mound of debris from a fallen tree and stared into the night with our weapons raised ready to engage any NATO that entered our FOB. Temperatures dropped pretty quickly Friday evening from a lovely 10 degrees celcius to around 1 degree at 3am.
I have been to Ops in the UK where it has been cold as fuck mixed with rain but nothing quite prepared me for MilSim West. Our Op location was opposite Mount Rainier, so we had a deathly cold wind blowing in from the mountain along with the low temperatures. Shortly after 3 am, myself and Lupe made the decision to get in our sleeping bags, despite both of us wearing cold weather gear and wrapping a sleeping bag around us on whilst we were keeping watch, we were both shivering. That night I barely slept, it was so cold as we had no shelter to shield us from the wind and sleeping out in the woods.
During the night, our Militia section hit 2 NATO patrols during the raids and returned at 4am. At around 8am whilst we were preparing for the day we were informed that enemy platoons were on their way to our location so we all threw our tac kit on ready for a scrap. One thing about MilSims is the pace of play can be slow at times and after around 20 minutes of waiting NATO troops to descend on our defensive positions, we decided to take the fight to them.
Militia HQ taking orders from Space Commander General Jet
We walked out of the FOB in the cold, brisk morning air and started closing the gap between our position and the NATO FOB. Jet took a small team ahead with him to their position, leaving myself and a few others to maintain a defensive line.
Dayton in a defensive position
Waiting
Our scout squad returned after around 15 minutes with details of the NATO FOB location and orders to attack their base, orders were sent out over the radios for the Militia call signs to join us at our location so we could launch an attack.
As our Militia call signs arrived at our location we started moving out towards the NATO FOB, as our other call signs flanked left to get the drop on NATO, Militia HQ and Honour guard squads walked across the open fields hooking right to distract and divert their attention. As we approached their position we popped smoke grenade upon smoke grenade to cloud their vision and our blank fire squad disorientated them with a barrage of shots.
Once in range we started engaging the NATO troops, taking out those that we could, popping smoke and medicing our squad members that had been hit in the advance. On our advance my gun failed meaning I was unable to engage anyone, so I instead supported the rest if our squad by throwing pyro and medicing those who needed it.
We had distracted the NATO players so well with our right advance that it gave our Militia call signs on the left enough time to infiltrate their base without being heard or seen. Once we had call signs in the FOB, we took out their troops and gained ground quickly. Once the FOB was cleared of enemies we started to search their bodies for intel and ammo - once located we moved this outside their base so we could load it into our vehicles that were en route to our location.
Searching bodies
'Vape nation'
After the attack on NATO we walked back to our FOB and started packing our gear up into our transport vehicles to take us to the Russian FOB on the other side of the base. When we arrived we started making a shelter for the night to come. Whilst I collected dried, dead leaves to lay on the ground of the shelter, Dayton and Poi dug the ground out from behind a pre-existing barricade.
The night for the HQ squad was spent refuelling on food and sitting by the fire. Russian and Militia forces were out at all hours of the night, hitting the NATO FOB on the hour, every hour.
At around 5am, there were shots fired into the Russian FOB, a small group of NATO soldiers had managed to evade all of our patrols. We woke up to pyro being thrown, shouting and guns being discharged. Our squad member Poi exploded out of bed and into action, throwing our rifles to us before he ran out into the darkness from where the shots were coming from.
We sat up in bed, clutching at our rifles, listening intently to determine where the shots were coming from and how close they were. BBs started hitting the tarpaulin of our shelter narrowly missing us so we hunkered down. After around 5 minutes, the shots ceased.
We were up early, at around 7am. Militia and Russian troops were still out fighting against NATO. We started packing our camp away and reorganising our kit in anticipation for the very last assault. The last assaults at MilSim West are somewhat legendary!
The last battle came an hour before the Op was due to finish. At 10am, a wave of NATO forces pushed their way from the treeline into the Militia/Russian FOB. As I was sat by the fire digging a tick out of my arm, we heard shouting and weapons being discharged so we stopped what we were doing, picked up our weapons and started running towards where the shots were coming from. Once we got into the tree line we saw our Russian brothers and sisters getting stuck in. The engagement lasted around an hour with mortars being dropped, smoke and pyro being thrown all over the shop and rounds whizzing past. The battle cries in russian added to the atmosphere.
I can honestly say, that MilSim West: Objective Stavropol was by far the hardest experience I've undertook in my 3 years of playing airsoft, from the cold to rucking all my kit, gun failures, sleeping rough outdoors it was an experience but after I embraced the suck, it was fucking awesome. I would fully recommend MilSim West to anyone looking to take their MilSim game to the next level. I also want to say a huge thank you to MilSim West for flying me out with Jet and Leah to take part in this awesome op.
Check out my gameplay video from the final battle at MilSim West: Objective Stavropol below:
Wondering what I've been up to on the YouTube channel lately? Here's my latest videos for you to check out! I've been working on 3-4 gameplay videos over the last few weeks so expect them to drop soon!
So a couple of weeks ago I stopped off at Enola Gaye HQ in Reading to catch up with the team and to pick up some supplies for my upcoming Airsoft games! Whilst I was sat drinking a cup of tea and catching up with the team a delivery of some new swag landed at the door! Amongst the new products were the new FUG gloves.
They come in a range of colours to suit any loadout and they have cute little pistol/sight graphics on the first two fingers as a cheeky design feature.
The new FUG gloves come in 6 colours - black, grey, camo, tan, digicam and olive drab, and in sizes XS-XL.They are going to retail for around £20 and will be available from retailers now!
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The prototype XS size has been sized to my hand - they are still a little roomy around the back of the hand so, EG now have specific women's sizes on their drawing board at this very moment so it won't be long until we have our very own line of sizes. It's a pleasure to work with companies that are helping us push the industry forward for women.
On April 12th, myself and Leah drove to Las Vegas, NV to spend a day with our sponsors Enola Gaye and to pop my Vegas cherry!
EG USA HQ is located in Pahrumpf in the Nevada Desert, which is only a couple of miles from Death Valley. We arrived at around 11.45am (middle of the day heat AND sun yay!) and had a quick catch up with Kris who I had the pleasure to meet at IWA 2017. I also finally got the chance to meet Omar and Dan Castro who I've been chatting to on social media for the last year or so.
After a hearty lunch of BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, BBQ Smoke Beans and Potato salad, we set about getting our photoshoot under way! First up were some lifestyle shots for the EG Apparel for the website and then we got geared up for our smoke shots in full LBX MultiCam Black! I've worn BMC combat trousers for my Police MilSim loadout with a black top and tac gear but I am loving full Black MultiCam kit! We also did a Post-Apocalyptic loadout with gas masks which made for some cool shots!
Check out some of the shots from our shoot with Dan Castro for EG USA!
After our photoshoot we made our way to the Las Vegas Strip and parked up our hotel, The LINQ. Vegas is unlike anywhere or anything I have ever seen. The strip is alive with bright lights, people having a good time, show girls and club reps handing out free shot vouchers to punters to entice them into their establishments. The hotels on the strip, along with their 4,000 rooms have casinos on their bottom floors along with designer shops, bars and restaurants. It really is a whole other world!
Vegas nights!
Leah and myself.
Vegas Strip from the Bellagio
The Bellagio
The Strip
Dinner on the Strip (Leah's head disappeared)
The Bellagio water show and Caesar's Palace.
We had an amazing time in Sin City, thanks to Enola Gaye for making my first Vegas trip an unforgettable one!
