Site Review - Ultimate Wargames

Ever since I took up the hobby of Airsofting, I've been looking for a playing site that doesn't involve driving over an hour and a half each way to have a good days' fun - call me lazy, but having to get up well before the sparrow has broken wind in the morning tends, in my not so humble opinion, to take the edge of having a good days' fun!

So, having a long weekend that wasn't fully occupied with either family, work, or other more mundane things available to me, I wanted to have some Airsofting fun. So, as I often do, I checked the The UK Airsoft Map, run by Frank Bothamley of Free Fire Zone; lo and behold, I found a place just south or Oxted (making it a 45 minute drive from Beckenham, no less!) - and only added to the map two weeks previously!

First Contact

Contacting them on the phone (details at the foot of this article), I spoke to Shaun Hennah, and booked myself in for a game, to find that instead of the normal Sunday games, they play on Saturdays - this was an added bonus for me, as it gives my tired old bones (hey, I'm considered by some to be old in this game, at 41 ) time to rest up and get back to something approaching normal on the Sunday afterwards, in time for work on the Monday! I phoned one of my frinds, Dan, who'd been on at me to get another game in before we both went off to Operation Distant Thunder at the end of July (hint to self: Another article to be written at that time!) and told him about Ultimate Wargaes. After checking his diary, he found he was free, and, at 07:00 on a very bright and hot Saturday 16th July 2005, we gently and without driving like a lunatic (saw a few of those in their Fulham Taxis (4x4s), though) found our way (from Bexleyheath, via a drive-through MacDonalds whose coffee machine was stuffed up - what?! NO COFFEE?! Good Lord, that McD guy is lucky to be alive!) through sleepy Kent and Surrey villages to arrive at the site at 08:30.

The site is set on a very gently sloping hillside, in thick woodland (its summer, remember; in winter I imagine that natural cover will be somewhat sparse), and is easy to get to from the M25, A21, A22 and A25. It's about ten to fifteen minutes drive from Westerham, in Kent, by the way.

Sited well off the road, behind a set of lock-up garage-like affairs, and again from there just beyind the corners of two fields, the site is easy to access from their rather small gravel and stone covered car park (if you're lucky, you might be able to fit two dozen or so mid-sized cars); it's a dead easy hundred metres or so stroll, and even encumbered with a damned heavy gun case, assault vest, and other gubbins, found it easy to get myself into the safe zone with a minimum of hassel - score one for UW!

Arrival in-country

We appeared to be the second and third players to arrive, a freindly old gent (Ken, who proved to be a sneaky old sniper, the crafty wotsit!), having turned up with the crew of UW. This, at least, gave us time to set up in relaxed manner; normally, I've arived on a site just as the players are about to walk on the field of play - score two for UW; it's close enough to get here in PLENTY of time!

The safe sone was fenced off with the usual eight-to nine-foot high green close-waeve safety netting that can be found at most other playing sites, and an added bonus were light-weight smal marquee-like tents with tables and seats for players to sort their gear out. These, if it rains, will keep the water off your kit, and in summer, provide, as was the case this day, more protection from the glaring sun! There was plenty of space for the small number of players that turned up on this day; a word of caution, though - if this site becomes popular, the safe zone is going to get very cramped, very quickly. To their credit, though, the UW staff have realised this already, and plans are in the works to convert one of the lock-up garages you pass on the way in, into a combined master safe zone and briefing room, that they're calling 'The Barracks'; the existing safe zone will then be relegated to a 'safe staging point'.

After about half an hour, a total of nine players had arrived. This being a brand new (well, almost) site, and only having been listed on the UK Airsoft Map in the last couple of weeks or so, I did not find this unexpected.

Top row, left to right: Steven F, Mick, Dan, Jeb.
Bottom row, left to right: Steve B, Adam, Toby, Yours Truly, Ken.

Welcome to the jungle!

The guys in AusCam (Australian Pattern Camouflage), Jeb and Toby, were the next to arrive, and, while we were awaiting the last of the players, Ken, the guy bottom right in the photo above, took us round the playing area. It's roughly 60 acres in size, not hilly, and so overgrown in summer that ranges would inevitably be pretty short - not very short, but enough to keep you on your toes for ambushes and other surprises. Being a small site, there is none of the usual 'walk five miles over hill and dale to play' that a couple of other sites that I've been to have (such as Combat South, Ambush Eversley), and this, for a lazy and somewhat unfit guy like me, was a Godsend!

There are three seperate and distinct areas set up on the site thus far, with more in the making, apparently: The current features are: 'The fort', 'The downed helo', and 'The bunker'; there are numerous tracks all over the site, and it's bordered on its' sides by a field, more woodland (private), a public path, and yet another field. In short, the site is well contained, and very playable.

The other troops...

Both in play, and in the safe zone, the other players were nice guys, and played very well throughout the day - when they shot you, they moved onto the next target; no 'overkill' was seen at all - very profesional! Also, not once did anyone fail to call their hits, something that I've only ever found at two other sites, Ambush Wargames at Chobham and Eversley; this made for good gaming all day, and added to the excellent atmosphere of the site.

The Scran Pan...

As with most playing sites, there's free tea and coffee available, and a burger lunch (£1.50 each) was available to those who wanted it (not bad burgers either).

Games...

Six long (well over half an hour to 45 minutes each game) games (three x 2 'end swapping') were played; defend/attack the fort, defend/attack the helo, and ambush at the bunker (with "Anti-personnel mines" - Airsoft claymores and 'bouncing bettys', no less - VERY nice touch smile.gif ) & defend the pillbox.

A slight aside at this point - Jeb and Toby, the guys in the Auscam, were well-nigh impossible to spot in the undergrowth when stalking around; this was a HUGE surprose to me, as I thought AusCam wouldn't work nearly as well as it did in British woodland, and I was damned glad they were on my 'side' for the half day they were able to be on site (family commitments meant that they were only able to play for half a day, and I was sorry as heck to see them vanish off at lunch time!); in bright sunshine, their AusCam was the dogs' damnglies, to coin a phrase, and if you see these guys on a warm sunny day at a playing site, make sure you're on THEIR side - they're damned good at the game!

Even considering that there were limited numbers on site this day, the games run were effective, fun, reasonably paced, and certainly damned hard nuts to crack! The bunker, in particular, is a nasty place to assault; it's like pill-box in it's shape, with a 'turet' on the roof that allows good fields of fire to the front, making flanking manouvres important to get right - I won't give away everything here, byt suffice to say, fun was had by all!

I especially enoyed my day at UW, as I had my newly repaired and completed rifle, "The Beast" with me, and while it clocked at just under a Joule, the reate of fire, accuracy, and sheer effectiveness of it, leant me five good eliminations, and a score of 'get yer bleedin' head down, my guys are coming through!' shots that truly made the day special for me

In Summary

To be brutally honest, I went into this site not realy expecting anything but the bare bones, and not very good or experienced marshalling. I am VERY happy to have been proved wrong in all cases - these folks know they're new, and act accordingly; they want ideas from players to improve the place, critique on their work, and so on. Very nice to see in such a new site - and they're still working on ading features to it (I won't steal their thunder here, but it'll be good, judging by both their plans, and their enthusiasm!).

In short, I had an excellent days' gaming - hell, I even got some good eliminations with my new rifle, and that certainly helped boost my enjoyment of the day - even in rather hot weather (I truly hate playing on blisteringly hot days - I've had heat exhaustion before, and it's NOT fun!) - so my water bladder was kept as full as possible between games.

All in all, this site possesses the seeds of something excellent; the attitude and approachability of all staff was good, their professionalism seemed top notch, and I'm so impressed that I'll likely be making this site my regular Airsofting haunt

Hope this helps anyone thinking of visiting their site - it may be small, it may not be well-used (at the monment), but if you want good atmosphere, good gaming, and a damned fun day Airsofting, give 'em a try out

Your Hosts...

Dean, Joanne, Tammy, Shaun.

Photo gallery

I took well over two hundred photos this day, but unfortunately, due to camer shake, poor focus, and my ineptitude with my new digital camera, only 54 of them were anything like reasonable; you can find them here

At a glance details:

Site name:

Ultimate Wargames, near Oxsted, Kent/Surrey area.
Contact number: 078-6539-0842
Web: http://www.ultimatewargames.co.uk/

Site size:

Small (around 60 acres or so)

Developed with site features?

Yes, bunker, fort, 'downed helo'.

Safe Zone?

Yes, enclosed and safety netted. Overhead cover from elements, and within treeline for added protection from the elements.

Hard-stand car parking?

Yes, but VERY limited. Not big, maybe room for 24 mid-sized cars at a push. Distance from car parking to safe zone approx 100 metres over reasonably flat ground, via the corners of two farm fields (Country Code: Remember to close the gate after you!)

Staffing and general H&S:

Good. UKASGB member site.

Marshalling:

Seemed effective and not overly intrusive.

Players on site on day of visit:

9 (Nine) (remember, it's a brand new site!).

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