I'm off to my second ever game this weekend
Hi all
I'm new to this hobby, my brother took me to his local site over Christmas and I had a great time.
I really enjoyed running around the woods shooting bbs at each other.
Turns out there are like 5 sites within easy drive of where I live so I've signed up to rent some gear and have a go at one of them this weekend.
I'm a little nervous as I've not managed to find anyone to come with me but I'm hoping I can find a few people to stick with on the day.
Hopefully it will be fun, I'm excited to give it another go. I'm trying really hard not to spend loads of money on gear before I know there's a good site or two I can play at.
Any tips for scoping out new sites, or for new players in general? I'm based in the UK if that makes any difference.
Water for sure, you don't have to wear it during play but definitely have some back with your gear.
Some thin gloves can be a good idea in the woods.
Rental guns can be of underwhelming quality sometimes, so don't be shy about trading out a gun if you're sure something isn't right with it. Buying your own is of course preferable for long term playing.
Some anti-fog for your eye protection. It's terrible to find out conditions are causing your goggles to fog up nonstop and have no way to fix it.
Some properly outdoorsy clothes of course. Most people find they don't want something too heavy like a full thick hoodie or something. It doesn't have to be full proper field gear or anything the first time out, but decently durable and as subdued colors as you can find.
That's about it for just trying out renting. If you want to start buying your own stuff, there's plenty of options but in the past I've found taiwangun.com to be a good site. I'd suggest some CYMA brand AEG of your choice. A collapsing stock AR variant is a pretty conventional choice. You can get some midcap mags and a simple speedloader too from them. Then good eye and facepro. I'm personally a fan of nice paintball masks like Dye because they deeply cut down on fogging, though you'll have to work around the cheekweld issue a little more. Switch out to some military field clothing, whatever is cheap and works for the area. A good safety bag for charging your battery, some small handtools (Allen keys and screwdrivers) and you'll be set.
Thanks for the tips.
Gloves are definitely on my list, I wore some fingerless ones last time and got a blood blister on my knuckle too.
Anti fog is a great idea I'll grab a bottle before the game and have a look at masks in future.
I hike and camp so I've got a bunch of suitable clothes and boots already thankfully. I'll have to see about a military surplus store for some camo in future though.
Heya, welcome to the club 🫡
I got the feeling that airsoft is really booming in the UK: lots of content in youtube.
Inenvy you with all the MTP surplus you can dress accordingly and cheaply (I imported a lot of the osprey era stuff :)
I’m sure you’ll find some buddies. My “circle” expanded quickly just by chatting about the gear people were carrying with them.
Here In Germany we got some bullet boards and community pages. They are great to lookup locations and events, but the actual contact happend on the sites.
Thanks, I was really surprised at how many sites I had local to me. My brother is in the north and has 1 site within an hour's drive. I have about 6 within 30 minutes. Ones even an indoor site.
I'll be looking for a military surplus store in the future to see about some kit. Try and find some webbing or mollie to carry my gear and cammo so I get shot less.
As a webbing, chest rig, pc owner: the fullkit gets important, when you do actual milsims, that last more than just a few hours. Overall, I prefer a lightweight recce outfit (MTP trousers, field jacket, no smock, chest rig, boonie) and only went full smock + webbing on a LARP event, where I wanted to be prepped with snacks and a set of GoreTex.
Depending on the event, getting too bulky and heavy (I have weighted plates in my pc) just puts you at a great disadvantage. Best and fastest skirmishes where with a Clawgear trousers with pouches for STANAG magazines, and no carrying system at all.