FUN IN THE SUN!

EVERY YEAR ON AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND AIRSOFT ACTION MAKE THEIR ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO THE NEW FOREST TO ATTEND THE UK NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL; 2025 SAW A RETURN TO EXCELLENCE IN EVERY WAY FOR THIS UK FLAGSHIP EVENT, AND A WEEKEND THAT WAS SO RELAXED AND CHILLED, BUT WITH A HUGE AMOUNT OF FUN AND IN-GAME EXCITEMENT FOR PLAYERS OLD AND NEW!

AIRSOFT ACTION have been attending the UK NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL (NAF) every year, pretty much right from the beginning of the event… when it was the EVENT!

We’ve covered it in so many ways over the years, first having a booth in the vendors area, and then for the last few years basing ourselves right in the very centre of the general camping field where we can interact more easily and socially with the players attending.

Now that folk know where we are at the festival it’s not unusual for us to have visitors all day long, old friends and new who come along to chat with us, share a drink and a snack, and share stories (sometimes late into the night!) of airsoft adventures shared in the past.

It’s a very cool way of getting together with everyone and finding out direct from the players themselves just what kind of weekend they’re having.

VISITORS ALL DAY LONG, OLD FRIENDS AND NEW WHO COME ALONG TO CHAT WITH US, SHARE A DRINK AND A SNACK, AND SHARE STORIES (SOMETIMES LATE INTO THE NIGHT!) OF AIRSOFT ADVENTURES SHARED IN THE PAST”

I always go with other members of the AA Crew, and this year once again it was with Ben, our little in-house “GHOST”; sadly due to his ongoing recovery from a very serious illness Jimmy couldn’t make it along with us as usual, and his gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humour was sorely missed, and I hope that he’ll be able to re-join us at future events.

My role at the festival has changed somewhat over the years too, and I will be the first to say that the gameplay at NAF is absolutely not my style! The thought of nearly 3000 players, even on such as large and interesting site as that offered by Ground Zero, fills me with absolute dread, and even with the best will in the world and some bang-on marshalling there’s bound to be a certain amount of chaos, and of course when players get tired, as they inevitably do when traversing the 175 acres of playable terrain, their hit-taking can be somewhat less than stellar…

As I’ve said many times before though, I always look forward to the festival as it’s an event I’ve attended for many, many years; friends always ask me why I head out to a multi-day event that, by my own admission, is not my “thing” when it comes to the actual gameplay, and I always respond “That’s not why I go”… I’ve been an outdoorsman as well as an airsofter all my adult life, so I actually relish the thought of getting away for a few days in the tent, it is genuinely something I enjoy and it’s no hardship for me. I have good kit that I’ve built up over many years, and some great performance clothing so the elements don’t bother me overly.

I enjoy the atmosphere and the energy generated by players of all types coming together; I love the fact that we see Nuns with Guns, Hawaiian-shirt-clad contractors, WWII Allied and Axis forces, Nam grunts, numerous “walking bushes” with bolt-actions, hordes of massed support and miniguns, and every type of AEG and camo kit that you can possibly imagine… This year we even had Deadpool on a T-Rex… now THAT’s not something you see every day! Whilst I don’t play myself others of the AIRSOFT ACTION Crew do… and enjoy themselves as Ben will tell later.

For 2025 the event facilities were genuinely better than ever; portaloos which this year there were more of, and they were kept scrupulously clean, shower facilities (again spotless!), food vendors, , bands playing in the main marquee, and this year an additional bar out on the far extent of the general camping field! Even more kit vendors and representatives were there to this year in an extended vendors area, showing the best of their new gear than ever before!

So, this is why I go, and that’s before I start talking about meeting up with old mates, meeting new ones, and generally using the Festival and the superb Ground Zero woodland to get some pics in the bag for future reviews and articles, of then in tandem with the great team from KRIOS PHOTOGRAPHY who have their own pop-upstudio in place for player portraits as well as covering all the in-game action!

Festival Fun

2025 was most certainly another massively positive step in the right direction for the NAF, and there was a general consensus from most that I talked to that the event had finally regained its “sweet spot”.

Check in for camping was slick, and additional facilities meant that check-in for the game was just as much so. A full-time help point ran throughout the game this year, and site marshals, medics, and staff were generally much more visible, even making turns around the camping fields in buggies to make sure everyone was safe and cool.

Lines for chrono, although still long at some points, appeared better managed overall again, and allowing players to arrive on-site a day earlier this year meant that the lines were far, far shorter that I’ve ever seen… and yes, I did say “lines” as this year there was again a separate line for HPA-users, and their numbers continue to grow!

As I said last year in my report, overall the organisation for the camping side this time was super-slick, and by 10:00 on the Friday the camping fields were once again full to the brim!

It was great to see players from all over the UK, and I was told by NAF-Neil (another old friend) that there were more players attending attending from Italy, Germany, France, from all over Eastern Europe, the USA, and even Australia, so it really was a multi-national gathering again, something that reminds me of the pre-covid event years!

Thursday and Friday were very chilled out, with players mingling and having fun in the sun with an ice cream, checking out the stalls and picking up some bargains from the second-hand sales in the camping area. I managed to get around to speak to vendors and those displaying early on Friday, and it was again a pleasure to see a multitude of gear-sellers around the village, with Ratty and ade from VIPER, Jo from FLECKTARN UK, the Enola Gaye team, Kydex Customs, and AIRTAC among the number.

SEE

It was fabulous to see Heroshark doing his painting-thing live, Finchy and April from Finch Embroidery, Scott from LOWA back at the event with all his new shiny things, and among the other returnees were the guys from Optics Warehouse, the BLOC Tactical Eyewear team, and VORTEX.

There were also a lot more new additions this year too including Thomas and the crew from BZ Tactical, Matt and his team from Ammo Drop, and my old mate Rob with his crew of shooters and looters from OPTAC UK.

The guys from Patrol Base were there loud and proud with the very latest DELTA ARMORY AEG models, and along the way were SOCOM TACTICAL, Airsoft Competitions (with some VERY tasty items up for grabs!), and the guys from DOUBLE TAP… I’ll be speaking to DOUBLE TAP more about what they do in the future, along with featuring Mike to detail his outstanding BRITSISH FORCES AIRSOFT COLLECTION.

I have not detailed everyone that was in the vendors area as I could go on and on, but to a weekend as I did, and I look

WITH GUNS, HAWAIIAN-SHIRT-CLAD CONTRACTORS, WWII ALLIED AND AXIS FORCES, NAM GRUNTS, NUMEROUS “WALKING BUSHES” WITH BOLT-ACTIONS, HORDES OF MASSED SUPPORT AND MINIGUNS, AND EVERY TYPE OF AEG AND CAMO KIT THAT YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE” forward to speaking more to you all in the future!

Friday, as always, ended up with many sampling all the super food options available, enjoying a beer or two, and listening to the band; you could even hear the band down on the camping fields so Ben and I ended up cranking up the BBQ and chilling, whilst all around us fire-pits were lit, more music played (at a sensible level), and the hum of conversation faded into the dusk of a wonderfully relaxed evening… as the stars came out there was actually very little noise apart from what the OTHERS and BRAVO would “do to DELTA” (a standing joke at NAF!) the next day, but very soon blessed silence reigned.

GAME ON!

So, Saturday, GAME DAY! And unlike the monsoon of last year, the sun shone brightly in a blue, blue sky! After a superbly swift and to the point safety brief (Team Briefs had happened well before this), it was time for “Game On” and players headed out to their respective start points.

Although the site is HUGE it’s also broken down into smaller “game zones” that are eminently playable in their own right, and that on a regular “skirmish day” would delight anyone. There’s a small village, a “prison”, outposts, guard towers, trench systems and numerous other structures to play through. Of course for the weekend

EVERYTHING is in play at the same time, and wherever you went there was the sound of a firefight taking place. All three teams had objectives to achieve and points to be earned from them and from what I saw every objective was hard-earned by the eventual victors.

At this point I’ll hand over to Ben for his comments on the game itself…

BEN: Soooo.... National Airsoft Festival!!

What an absolute belter of a Weekender

Bill and I both had, from the weather to the whole atmosphere in the camping and Safe Zone area’s to on the battlefield, seeing old friends and making new we both had a blast!

I lost count on how many times we had both said that it felt calmer and more settled this year; like last year we set off early and got on site on the Thursday at about midday, and to our surprise the site was already nearly half full with freshfaced and eager airsofters, smiles all round and everyone with a buzz in there step; I believe the beautiful sun had a big part to play in that!

After we had set and made camp we did our usual stroll down to the stalls to meet and greet and soak up the early good vibes that was already circling around; for me it always feels natural and homely when people are just strolling around in all the awesome loadouts or costumes. This year I again went as my “Call of the Saturday then I switched out for a PMC look on the Sunday.

Now the first thing that really caught my eye right from the start was that chrono was already open and I must say this year it was a rather fast and pleasant experience; not once did I see a long line, no bigger than the lines for food, whatever the festival team had done there they had done that bloody brilliantly! Like last year their game had been stepped up from the safety team walking about more to that same high level of keeping the portaloo toilets cleaned regularly, the showers too this year were a bigger hit...

The stories Bill and our friend Lucky were telling me about when the festival first started to just in the past four years I’ve attended showed how so much has changed and improved for the better; I think the NAF is now reaching that high level of what we want and for them that have been there from the start been working for. The shops and stalls front was massively bigger and far more impressive this year, and as usual there were many excellent food stalls and the infamous beer tent which is where most of us congregate after a good, hard days play or to soak up the sun rays and chill with a cold one or two.

Now I normally treat myself to a few bits as it would be rude not too, however this year I was on a budget due to going on holiday soon after the festival...so I like to support them smaller family businesses and show a little love and found one of the newbie stalls...Delta-Action! They were a very friendly and welcoming family that had loads of accessories for sale, so I brought myself the long Osprey suppressor they had and also ordered their “smoke n tracer kit” for it plus the sound suppression kit… I’ll cover that a bit more in the near future!

Anyhow, as for how things went on the battlefield...

After now having played all factions ,this year I decided to play as BRAVO once More, as I felt that they had more a supportive team vibe and the communication was more consistent. I had just as much fun and a right blast as last time I was on BRAVO, got plenty of good kills and took a few bleeders to the face...that’s when you know you’re having fun!

Overall the fights were rather evenly matched, with some really good back and forth with who was winning to take over villages, buildings or just the paths in-between it all. The final win with BRAVO close behind and THE OTHERS once again in third place… but only by a few points!, I had a blast and came home with great footage and wonderful memories from the firefights to sitting back in my chair with my rum and coke soaking up the evening sun and banter with the best company Bill; unfortunately as Bill said earlier, Jimmy couldn’t make it this year but his presence was genuinely missed. I look forward to my next visit to NAF and many more events for the magazine, peace out players stay frosty!

BILL: Saturday night after “The Raffle” proved to be just as enjoyable as the one before, with that same chilled vibe, and Ben and I made a visit to the Beer Tent in the main area to listen to the band… and witness a fabulous display of marching to the refrain on “500 miles”… if you weren’t there you couldn’t know man!

Sunday dawned bright and clear again, and the teams obviously felt there was still more to play for though, and the points tally showed this to be true! So they headed back to the game, and they just kept on playing, gaining objectives and points whilst having a thoroughly good time, although by early afternoon a few players were heading back in; again I believe that this was in the minority though, as most players were still having a great time of it as we headed on out to be back in the office on Monday…

The Future Looks Golden

So there we have it, another year, another NAF, and as always I’ll say as I’ve said many times before; the site is superb and the organisation was better than it has ever been, even with numbers of people and players on-site.

The facilities were better yet again this year and the scheduling spot-on. Once again I’ll echo my thoughts of past years as the play that I saw was hard, fast, and in the main fair, with hits taken and compliments given where they were due (and thanks to the players that shot past us carefully while we were doing pictures), and Ben would appear to agree with that.

The “after game” was just as much fun but incredibly chilled and relaxed, and once again the bottom line is that everyone seemed to have a thoroughly bang-on time whether they played for the duration, for a few hours, or not at all!

Well done to the players of DELTA who took the win this year, and I’m certain that BRAVO and THE OTHERS will be back to contest things next year!

Again, as I now say after every NAF, “whatever you want from the NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL will be delivered. The Festival is first and foremost just that, a wonderfully joyous event that celebrates airsoft in all its diverse and wonderful forms, and a Festival that just happens to be set on an awesome site that has an enormous airsoft game going on at the same time.”

My final thought on NAF 2025… BRING ON NAF 2026, the future of the event looks golden!

Our thanks as always go to AA LEGION associate Josh and his crew at www. kriosphotography. com for their help with additional photography. For further information for the 2026 National Airsoft Festival please keep an eye on www. airsoftfestival. com, and the AA Crew look forward to seeing you there, as always, next year!! AA

As AlwAys, A huge ThANK yOu TO JOsh ANd The TeAm AT se PhOTOs APPeAr iN Our rePOrT ANd ON These PAges. There Are, quiTe liTTerAlly, huNdreds mOreif yOu wANT TO see Them (ANd mAybe buy A few) heAd Over TO Their websiTe: hTTPs://TiNyurl cOm/KriOsNAf2025