05/02/2024
Great review of the Battery!
Thank you very much ~ Tony Rift Airsoft :)
Myself and Daniel Johnson from Odin's Raven's Airsoft Team played here on 27th Jan 2024. Here is the full review that we have done.
Review written by Daniel Johnson
Site Rundown
Based near Chelmsford, the site is situated in the rural area of Dunmow, Essex. The site is set on an old chicken coup site comprising 3 buildings and some outside areas.
Entering the site, you are met by a Marshall at the gate and your name is checked against the bookings list. You are then moved into the concreted parking area. This is a rare thing for many of the sites known through the area and means you're not going to be getting the wheels or your gun cases cover in mud to trapse into the site, or into your car boot when it's time to go home - a welcome bonus!
Moving into the site, you then have the portacabins where you sign your waiver if required, and pay your fee for the day. This fee differs depending on whether you are a member or not. This building also doubles up as the "canteen" where you can purchase drinks and snacks, as well as hot dogs for lunch. You do not need to pre-book your lunch. Toilet requirements are met with portacabins, of which there are two at the main entrance.
As you enter the main building you are greeted by Tony at the rentals desk, who always seemed to be having a conversation with somebody and making sure that everyone was happy as they come through. The next thing you come to is the on-site shop, run by White Sphere Tactical. This shop differs greatly from many of the shops you see on site, not just by the way it is laid out but also by the amount and variety of stock that it holds. RIF's, rifle scopes, gloves, vests, face pro, eye pro, and even things like gunsmiths matts to work from were all catered for. The on-site shop was also running a raffle. I didn't clarify whether this was a one-off, or regular occurrence but the prizes were decent for both new players and those a little more experienced - they were even prepared to offer an item of equivalent value if it wasn't to your liking.
Next was the safe zone and range. The safe zone was banked on either side by tables with some benches running down the middle. On busier days space will be tight so you may wish to arrive early, however, I can also believe that if the site becomes busier they will increase the amount of table space available to suit what's needed. The range was approximately 25m in length and is also where weapons get chrono'd before the game day starts. The range is a safe enclosed space, and much work has gone into making it that way.
Briefing
The briefing took place in a timely manner and warning were given by the Marshall's on site of how long it was going to be until this was to take place. The did this before the briefing, before games, and after games to make sure everybody knew how long they had to bomb up before the next game was to commence. More importantly, they stuck to their time frames meaning that you are always going to get a decent amount of play time and not be sat there waiting to play a game for almost an hour like some sites I have experienced in the past!
The briefing itself was direct and concise. The layout of the site was explained alongside what you could expect from some of the scenarios they were setting out for the day. The hit rules for the site were laid out, any calls that needed to be made for emergencies, and how players were expected to conduct themselves between games walking to spawn points was also spelled out. The process took around 20 minutes, but there was no leaving the brief feeling confused and everyone knew what to expect. From brief, we were taken out to the first game.
The site allows a maximum BB weight of 0.28g and has a hard FPS limit of 350fps. No pyro is allowed.
Gameplay
The gameplay sites consists of three separate buildings with doorways, openings, and corridors linking them in certain areas. These buildings are completely dry inside and well maintained making it very easy to just get on with gameplay. They have also put a lot of thought in to where they place cover, and how they have laid the interiors out - that being said they were also willing to take advice to try and help out lessen some of the more obvious choke points that are presented across the site. This is not the fault of the site as such, but any environment that requires entry and exit from building will always naturally present these choke points. The usual fix would be to come up to a door, drop in a gr***de, and then push once it goes off to clear out and progress. However, as the site does not allow the use of pyro (I had to put away my 9mm BFG XD) it means that quite often it just turns these choke points in to fatal funnels where people cant enter or exit, and this can then become a theme at each point - even if you try to flank through another route.
The outside areas where muddy were combated by hay being laid down on the ground. Whilst this may not sound like much it definitely did what it was intended to do and ensured that you weren't easily going to slip or fall. Once again there were various structures and man made cover put in place in these outside areas that was very well balanced, meaning you didn't hold any particular advantage by spawning at one end of the site or the other.
The games we played were varied, and encourage contact in different areas, rather than pushing the entirety of the players to one point of the site just to sling plastic at each other non stop. It was possible to take different routes, cover different objectives, flank the enemy, and capture objectives whether you were alone or part of a small group if you understood the layout well enough.
Even though the sites is quite large for its style, it is important to stress that the site is still considered to be a CQB site, not quite to the point of a FIBUA environment. This means that your average engagement distance can be quite small. You can turn a corner and be on top of someone, or in some of the outside areas, you can have an engagement distance of around 20-25m.
Overall, the gameplay experience was incredibly positive with players taking their hits, calling 50/50's well and congratulating others for their play. It was a genuinely nice experience after 22 years of play and having some very toxic game days this made an incredibly nice change. I didn't hear a single person try to make a cheat call. Marshalling was also incredibly well done, with Marshall's understanding where they would need to be for the game scenario, and also being proactive when people called them over. They were also good for taking a picture or two at the same time. They were all very friendly and offered advice on the gameplay objective - though didn't too anything to offer an unfair advantage.
Overall Thoughts
Overall there really isn't much that can be brought that's negative from the day we had. And that was genuinely a surprise to us, as usually there's something that stands out that needs improvement - today was certainly not one of those days. If we wanted to be picky, the site entrance can be hard to spot if you don't pay enough attention - even though they have a sign on the main road - but that really is about it.
The staff, and marshalling for the day was spot on, as was the organisation of the day itself. There also didn't seem to be a negative comment made through the entire day from either team - another rare occurrence.
Games were just the right length to feel engaging without dragging out, and for such a young site the layout is incredibly good. The only real improvement that needs to be considered if how they can manage the choke points effectively when pyro cannot be used on site.
The day was incredibly positive, and we met some great people along the way! More importantly we had a really good gameplay experience, and are already looking forward to our next game day on site!
