sprinkling of more exotic custom-made
guns.
As the WWII airsoft scene has
expanded and diversified, so the internet
presence has changed. Today, the WWII
Airsoft website (www.ww2airsoft.org.uk)
has the latest in WWII game and
kit news and its associated forum
(run by the author independently of
any organiser, organisation, site or
manufacturer) aims to bring everyone
together and provide a central hub of
information, a focus for the community
and links elsewhere. And it is not just
used by those in the UK, as there is
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November 2011
quite a bit of interaction and flow of
information between overseas WWII
players too. There is plenty of information
provided by the WWII re-enactment
world as boundaries between airsoft and
traditional re-enactment private battles
become blurred.
WWII airsoft has developed a game
style all of its own and this might come
as a bit of a surprise to those more used
to open day airsofting. The pace is much
slower and concentrates less on trigger
time and more on teamwork; less on
emptying hi-cap after hi-cap and more
on fulfilling objectives. Frankly, there
isn’t really a use for ‘lone wolf’ players
in WWII airsoft – players are given
orders and work in squads, often doing
everything possible to avoid contact
with the enemy, unlike open days where
constant contact is the name of the
game. It isn’t unknown for a player to
return home after a weekend’s play
having not fired a shot in anger
yet still buzzing with adrenaline having
run the enemy ragged.
Games are run at airsoft sites and
Ministry of Defence army training
grounds all over the country, hired for
the day or weekend. They are chosen for
their suitability to a scenario so a quarry
would make a great North African or
Italian battle, a disused factory becomes
Stalingrad, an underground tunnel
complex becomes a secret German
aeroplane factory, a pine forest becomes
the Ardennes. One of the great pluses of
following WWII airsoft games around the
country is that you get to play at some
truly remarkable and unique airsoft sites.
So if you feel like giving WWII airsoft
a go, where do you start? Well, you
don’t start by hammering websites
with the credit card! And while Band of
Brothers and Saving Private Ryan are
excellent entertainment, a US Airborne
outfit will see limited use in WWII airsoft
games. Generic is the key. WWII game
scenarios span the entire war so ideally
you need something along the lines of
an unbadged infantryman. Don’t bother
with arm badges or other adornments:
plain field-grey