site report AIRSOFT DOVER
Luckily for me and for players in my area, from the ashes a Phoenix has arisen and I’ve been very pleased to see that TripleA Airsoft CQB has now opened its doors for business in my home town of Dover! Poor old Dover has been in the doldrums for quite some time and although many of you will know it as “The Gateway to Europe” the town has had some pretty bad press over recent years, in fact being voted “#1 worst town to live” in the 2017 iLiveHere poll! Luckily for all of us who do live in and around the town, great things are happening and regeneration is slowly but surely taking place. There is a new retail/entertainment area that has recently opened and various initiatives are gradually coming to fruition to make it a better place to live, work and have fun. Fronted up by Boomer who was the thoroughly entertaining and very able head marshal at the Darkwater “Darksite” and will be well-known to some of you, TripleA Airsoft has opened in the very heart of the town and is now offering some great airsoft games for those of you that, like me, enjoy their airsoft up close and personal.
GET YOUR CQB ON!
“In the heart of the town? Right…” I hear you say but this is truly the fact of the matter, as Boomer and his crew have gained access to one of the top floors of a multi-story car park attached to a retail complex right in the middle of the town! Don’t ask me how he did it but now while shoppers go about their business around and below you, you can be getting your CQB on! The game area itself is not huge, roughly 80m x 20m (the space once accommodated 44 cars) but M’sieur Booms and his team have made an enormous effort to make it an area that plays extremely well. Along both sides of the floor in play they’ve built a whole host of “rooms”, both standalone and interlinked that prove a real challenge to negotiate. Sensibly he ran a test game before opening to the public and I believe that many of us commented on the open nature of the centre ground when we first saw it.
That has now been addressed and when I visited for the first day of “proper play” more barriers and even an old van had been added in the middle ground to make things “flow” better, with more to come. It actually brings a bit of a shiver when you walk up the ramp from the Safe Zone (it’s a car park, you can set up right next to your car!) to the game area. If you think about movies and TV series how often does the final showdown take place in an old factory or a multi-storey? From the outset you feel as if you’re now part of something like this - and it’s a GREAT feeling! Boomer is a past-master at safety briefings and he has this down to a fine artform, so once you arrive, check in and chrono (the site is VERY strictly 350fps on a .20g MAX), things run pretty darn slickly. Even with “first day nerves” things went smoothly and you’re soon on the game area getting BBs downrange. The site is run on “semi-only” which means accurate shots and a nod towards limited ammo (this isn’t enforced!) are the order of the day but with some fun “warmer-uppers” you soon get your eye in. The mix of games juggles between “fun” and “tactical” so whatever style takes your fancy you can have at it; if you fancy sitting out a particular game the Safe Zone is only a few steps away and you’ll soon be back on for the next session anyway. One thing that you fill find at TripleA is a distinct lack of “BS”! As hard as you will be encouraged to play, Boomer has a 100% “Zero Tolerance” for lack of courtesy, consistent non-hit taking and any kind of physical or verbal abuse. Sadly on the opening day a player was asked to leave and as much of a downer this is, it illustrated to me that this site will be run properly for the enjoyment of all players, not just for “the chosen few”. Trust me, making this decision is harder than it sounds but sometimes a line must be drawn and players must understand that stepping over it will result in a ban… Given the size of the game area and the intensity it engenders you can sign up to play all day, or for a morning or an afternoon session. The morning “Session 1” starts at 09:00 and runs to 13:00, whilst “Session 2” kicks off at 14:00 and plays through until 18:00. www.airsoft-action.online
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