R.I.F.T - The Defilade

[Dentonboy]

It was with a not insignificant amount of excitement that myself and the G.W.S Team went to this new site in Chailey, Sussex.

Why was I excited? After a decade of travelling between 45-90 mins each way for a skirmish, this site has opened 5 mins away.

Arriving, there was parking; enough for today, but if the site gains in popularity, it will need to be enlarged. Ample tables in the SZ and three gazebos in case the weather turned. Whilst the welcome wasn't as warm as ACE Combat's and CSW's; we were new...

After a good hour and a half after arrival, Andy briefed us on the game and introduced his 2 other deputies. Teams were made out of the 30 players signed in and we rolled out into the soggy Sussex countryside.

The site is very physically impressive. The playing arena is set in a vast natural crater, and in the summer it is clear that it'd be a sniper's haven. 

Game one did not go well. Accusations of hits-not-taken and misguided officiating had two players known to my team packing up and leaving in annoyance after an hour.

We had decided to give the site the benefit of the doubt, and to Andy's credit, he evened up the teams, reiterated the rules and got us going on two further games before lunch.

These were far more enjoyable and we (my GWS team) saw and used the full site area for the first time. I teally cannot wait to play there in the dry and with cover!

Lunch was bring/buy your own: this rankles a bit as for a £20-25 walk-on fee on other sites, lunch would be provided. I had brought my own. Kabuto rice pots are cracking. 

A very decent post lunch game followed, after a lot of waiting around in the start-off points (not ideal in the cold) and this was a lot of fun too.

By this point, I was cold and tired, and wanted to see my family back in my warm house a few minutes away, so I packed up and left my team to it with 1 more game to go.

Overall, it is a good site, with a lot of potential and a group of regular players whose majority play fairly and with a smile. It could do with a few more officials - three to look after 30 players over a large site perhaps encouraged the non-hit taking...but their humour and encouragememt was appreciated by myself at least. The site is walkable; nothing is too far away and the site limits will accommadate a lot of airsoft weapon types.



7/10 - like trying to catch a glimpse of your sister-in-law's rack; would try it again.