[Players of War] Snowsoft is snowy. And cold.

Lemming

I hope you've all been having a fun and festive Christmas period; I certainly have. And it's been a very white affair. On the 27th December both Firekitten & I had the good fortune of getting a day's play in at a site in Scotland called Players of War (or POW for short).

POW cater to a lot of WW2 milsim events (if one checks scoutthedoggie's youtube page), although they do most certainly run normal skirmish days whilst encouraging folk to come dressed in period kit. So we called and spoke with the lovely Beth (a Canadian before you ring and wonder why she doesn't have a Scottish accent ... ) to confirm attendance and sort VCRA cover letters for HMRC and the like. Nobody told me it would be snowing ....

Not only has it been snowing, but it is utterly f*cking BALTIC up here right now with several inches of snow to show for nature's trouble. The drive up to High Bonnybridge proved uneventful for the most part until we attempted the final drive itself which resulted in wheel spins, sliding, and general pushing up hills. The car park itself was under about 6-8 inches of snow and where you parked was dictated by where the car simply stopped.

We met up with a few friends from the Fort (Fife) at the safe zone and then signed in and chrono'd. A look around showed a variety of brave souls who decided to throw all form of common sense to the wind in turning out to play. There was a mixture of WW2 period and modern kit, with mostly experienced players although there were at least two complete novices in attendance as well.

The format of games was of set pieces; 45 mins for a game here, 20 mins there, etc. with one game result being decided by snowball fight. Marshalling at the site is strict and well run with a "three-strikes-in-one-day and you are not out but instead asked never to return" policy. The play was good as well, with players giving it considerable effort given how cold and numbing the conditions were, on top of having to worry about tree-borne snow-drops and not being able to see the ground under your feet.

I'll get photos up once I get a bluetooth connection for my phone (left it back in Ireland ... )

Lastly, a thank you to Beth & Ernie, and all the folk we played against - some familiar, some new. Looking forward to returning for some WW2 soft in the near future.

Firekitten

Big thankyou to Lemming for posting this up. I'll agree with nearly all of his points, but for the fact he deffinately downplayed the cold... The scots are a seriously hardcore bunch. Arriving just outside East Kilbride for a family christmas, we suffered several days of increasing snowfall, roughly two feet has fallen here in the village of Chapelton. Driving north to High Bonybridge was a mission. I've personally never seen conditions like it. The site itself was easy to reach for drivers.

Directions were well described on ther website, and brilliant communications between the site owners and customers. Although Beth did moan at all of us complaining at the weather saying it's mild compared to back home in Canada... As I pointed out, They prepare for the winter... In England/ Scotland, we hope for snow, and never expect it. So the resulting two feet of snow on the ground at the site was an experience. James mentioned parking, it was literally a "Right where will we par.....*Squelch" here then I guess?"

The safezone was... really well laid out, with covered areas and tables for gear, hot drinks , snacks, bbs, gas and bits and bobs. Sectioned off shooting range for chronoing and hop setting/zeroing... lovely setup imo. Minor downside... Lack of a toilet.... Its a pee in the trees job. and I must admit, i really envy you lot... (thinks carefully about how to phrase this to make it family friendly) Going to the loo and avoiding sitting in the snow, was.... erm, eye opening?

Games were good, although marred by the occasional tree mortar. (Snow falling from branches) As was the safety brief, where Beth got covered in snow!
The games were fast paced and enjoyable, with no real sense of one sidedness throughout. Brilliant marshaling, and sportsmanship throughout. I think a few players called hit on snowballs too... The site itself is heavily wooded with scots pine and fur, although throughout the site are awesome constructed objectives and defenses, a Village, Church, Bridge, V2 rocket on launch pad, Monte Casino,Train station (With actual platform....)

The place is very much geared towards world war two style airsoft, but it certainly doesnt prohibit play for modern styled airsofters, nor are they discouraged. I myself was wearing ACU trousers, Desert DPM SAS windproof smock, CB Plate carrier and weilding a TAR-21, and was possibly as far removed from the site eithos as possible. But all responses were friendly, and welcoming, and the game play could have been anywhere, to any objective, dispite feeling like the battle of the bulge at some points... well, I lie, most of it did... Have you ever tried running in knee deep snow? dodging fire? going prone and ending up swimming? Bloody class I say... The site made for awesome airsoft, where a lot of sites would have struggled to cope with the weather.

James mentioned we met a few friends from our other excursions to the Fort in Fife. It was nice to catch up with them till some multicam sporting scotsman finally solved the mutlicam debate by grabbing me and throwing me into a rather large snow drift... I suppose it works rather well in snow... Wonder when Tom Clancey will invade Lapland?


I have to say, from a personal aproach, snowsoft is something you should all try at some point. Exhilarating, yet bone numbingly freezing at the same time. Though One thing i cant recomend enough is the Under Armour ColdGear tops and leggings... snug as a bug. (Not advertising honest). I'll beat lemming into posting the photographs he took, and leave you with this... Why did I spend the evening before playing running around the East Kilbride retail park looking for a roll of masking tape?

Answers on a postcard kids.

First Prize: 20 Firekitten Points
Second Prize: 10 Firekitten Points
Third Prize: What do you think I am? Generous or something?


Airsoft in the snow: "Grenade! Oh wait snowball..."

Blazer

Desert BDUs? In the snow? Ye're mad woman...where's your snow ghillie?

The masking tape? Was it to tape two mags together? Or the ends of your trousers?

o1s1n

To tape both your mouthes closed so you would stop giving away your positions by shouting 'OMFG SNOW AIRSOFT ROCKS!'?

Rogue-Trooper

o1s1n wrote: »

To tape both your mouthes closed so you would stop giving away your positions by shouting 'OMFG SNOW AIRSOFT ROCKS!'?

Captain Chaos

Desert BDUs are golden and duct tape is silver, that's where it all went. Added plus as an extra layer of clothing.

Rogue-Trooper

I reckon the answer is nothing to do with airsoft. I think they like to keep a roll of tape handy in case they get snowed in and there's nothing on the telly.....


Lemming:




Firekitten:

Firekitten

Actually.... Take a running mental leap.... Which is more likely to blend in in white/browny beige conditions? Woodland camo? or desert / multi area? I was actually pretty invisible

As for the Duct tape... sorry kids... you don't win the prize.

The answer was to tape up My l96a1 Eliana for some invisiblesoft.

I was however using the ghillie for part of it, naturally snow cammed when a tree dumped on me in position. heh, dedication to stay there I tell you.

mcshape

Im Sorry, but who the hell would do that to a cat???? :-<



[/QUOTE]

zero19

I'm hoping that's a fake picture...

Firekitten

Yeah, me too... thats not cool.

Hivemind187

mcshape wrote: »

Im Sorry, but who the hell would do that to a cat???? :-<

[/QUOTE]

A Brazillian.

That is all.

thebillynator

Hivemind187 wrote: »

A Brazillian.

That is all.[/QUOTE]

that is a bit of a racially forward accusation

Leftyflip

thebillynator wrote: »

that is a bit of a racially forward accusation

Oooh you haven't met Hivemind, have you?

thebillynator

no............why?

Hivemind187

thebillynator wrote: »

no............why?

*sigh*

Brazillian .... wax.

dun dun.

Stone.cold

thebillynator wrote: »

that is a bit of a racially forward accusation

i think if u look at the pic and think about what a brazilian is (Wax ) u will see what hivemind meant, pretty sure he wasnt refering to a nationality

thebillynator

ooooooooooooooohhh sorry i get it now i'm just a bit slow on the uptake today:rolleyes::rolleyes::p

Firekitten

Watching this last page, as off topic as it is, and the penny finally dropping was comedy gold... Keep it up boys

deco nate

can i ask when we can see the pics?lady an gent thanks(im a nosey sod!!)

Lemming

deco nate wrote: »

can i ask when we can see the pics?lady an gent thanks(im a nosey sod!!)

Need to find my bluetooth adapter (or my usb cable) so I can get the pics off my phone ... oh joy ...:mad:

Lemming

And here we go; full lot of resized pictures are here (I have 2048x1280 res if anyone really wants them).

Samples:

View from the car park


Safe-zone


Observation-post


Anyone fancy recreating the Ardennes, 1944/5?


What happens when the trees periodically dump large volumes of snow on you (and proof that multi-cam doesn't work everywhere ... )




And an idea of just how snowy and utterly BALTIC it was (in case the other pictures don't convey it)[/i]

Firekitten

And for those that didn't work out what the masking tape was for....

Silly sausages

markomongo

Posted twice. Glitch in the matrix

markomongo

Very 'Battle of the Bulge'

Captain Chaos

Great pics, they remind of that Band of Brothers episode.

Lemming

More photos here: clicky

Firekitten

Coldsoft was F***ing cold...

deco nate

hardcore freezin!the name of this thread should have been.....mad dogs and airsofters out in the scottish (under?) snow!! hope you had a few drams afterwards to help you warm up
(from that old sayin/song...mad dogs and english..)put that in,just in case.

Firekitten

Oh it got worse....

got back to Lemming's Aunt's house where we were staying, and got told we had an hour to change, shower and get to his other aunt's for dinner....

PAIN is undescribable... Though i got a bit tipsy on his uncle's generous measures of vodka...

I mean half a tumbler... really....

deco nate

ahhh,but what id like to know is....would you do again?(WAYY too cold for me,woundnt even atempt it,ya im a wimp )

Firekitten

Aye sure... It was great craic and not really that cold.

A way to dry gloves... deffinately. I have raynards syndrome in my hands, bad circulation... they get so so cold... but other than that it was great fun.

Though a site with actual toilets would rock.... it was.... um, interesting lets say.


But yes, deffinatly do it again. in a heartbeat.

deco nate

good to know,a mate of mine moved to markinch,keeps askin me to pop over for a few days,i was thinkin of goin in the summer,and i think this place is near,popin over is look a lot more likey now,its win,win

deco nate

but they had portaloos right??

Hivemind187

deco nate wrote: »

but they had portaloos right??

... There are some places I do not wish to imagine frost bite.

Firekitten

No portaloos.... not at this site, thier moving soon and will. But as its usually all guys... most can manage with the old tree routine.

Ronan... I think you understand my... pain? No frostbite, but fecking chilly....