Airbana Blog

In the runup to the next release of the Airbana Airsoft Map I’ll be uploadng videos or screenshots of new features.

This video shows how you can draw the boundaries of Skirmish sites and add useful information such as the location of the Car Park, Safe Zone and common objectives:

A few Skirmish sites have written in to confirm that they have closed their doors so these sites have been removed from the map.

A couple of other sites have been taken over by new management and subsequently changed their names.

If there are any problems with these changes please email Gareth@Airbana.net

www.AirsoftMap.net will soon be running it’s latest version; 5. It’s no accident that this version of the Airbana Airsoft Map is also using the latest in web standards: HTML5.

Using the new Google Maps API, HTML5 Canvas to draw the map, HTML5 Web Workers to process data in the background, feature rich interactivity thanks to a mix of Javascript, Canvas and CSS3 and many more bits and bobs such as higher resolution icons, more responsive javascript, reduced CSS etc this should be one of the most intuitive and easy to use releases to date.

Information such as reviews and ratings by other Skirmishers have been integrated as well as more fine grained Region controls. For example http://US.AirsoftMap.net will only show information about the USA and http://UK.Airsoftmap.net will show UK info.

As part of the Version 5 rollout there will also be the release of AirsoftMap.info which will allow you to create your own ‘mini’ versions of the Airsoft Map. If for example you want to list all of the best Urban locations in England then you can, want to create a Map that only shows the sites you run then you can. Each map can be customised with it’s own domain name i.e http://BestOfUrban.AirsoftMap.info and you can add a custom intro / description that’ll be visible to your visitors.

This week was spent researching more about how Skirmish (War Game) Sundays work in HK.

Unlike the UK Skirmish sites here cater primarily to multiple small groups of people who play simultaneous but disparate games.

This can be useful if you want to practise set pieces or particular tactics with your team without detriment to the greater objectives (as the day is governed by yourself). In practise however it can lead to confusion when other players walk into your designated area and either draw fire (exposing your position) or fire on you.

The culmination of this weeks research was a day at Tai Tong WarGame Service Center.

A day’s Skirmishing in Hong Kong starts off in Kwong Wa Street where you wait for Buses to take you to your respective Skirmish sites. My understanding is that the little groups book in with a particular site and once enough people are booked in the site will lay on transport (at a cost). People start turning up around 8am and buses are scheduled to leave at 9am however this rarely happens.

Interestingly none of the Retailers are open at this time! There are hundreds of Skirmishers standing around possibly needing BB’s, Gas or that last minute extra mag etc but not a single shop opened and apparantly never do.

Once loaded onto a bus you set off on a journey that can last anything from 30 minutes to over an hour. Our journey took over an hour which was just long enough to get used to the air conditioning but for the day to start warming up!

We arrived at TTWSC just before 11am and with over 500,000 square feet available TTWSC have a large covered safe zone as well several skirmish zones such as the ‘Car Park’, ‘Forest’, ‘CQB’ and a steep Hill:

After signing the disclaimer sheets the group I was with loaded up and headed out into the field starting our day in the ‘Car Park’. A point to note is that there were no Chrono tests with everything being done on trust. This most likely works when you are only playing with a small team that you in theory are familar with but is still unnerving especially when you see BB’s smashing brickwork like it’s plaster!

Skirmishing in HK appears to revolve around the elimination game play dynamic with occasional objectives such as CTF appearing throughout the day.

As with every other time I’ve skirmished this week the Mosquitos ate me alive despite wearing repellant that might normally scare normal bugs away just by it’s smell.

We broke at around midday for lunch which involved the biggest pot of rice I’ve seen in my life (I’m kicking myself for not taking photo’s) as well as a type of chicken stew/soup with Winter Melon (which is jarringly sweet when you naively think it is potato) and a pork dish finished off with bok choi and diced hot dogs. A 750ml bottle of water was also included. Additionally since the site had running electricity they also had ice cold Gatorade and other local isoteonic beverages on sale too which was a bonus.

Just before we headed back out everyone got together for a photo;

Unfortunately just after the first afternoon game my brand new WE G39C stripped the rubbers off the piston / gas valve and jammed solid (someone owes me a big “I told you so” but I digress). This, coupled with the fact that the shops weren’t open that morning (I was intending to purchase a pistol in the morning ‘just in case’) meant I was out of the running but luckily there was only an hour left anyway.

Thanks go out to Cody, Fightingchook and all the other guys (and girls) in the the group that made it a good days skrmishing.

As part of my continued effort to ensure that the Airbana Airsoft Map has the most up to date information about Airsoft Retailer and Skirmish locations I’ll be spending nearly the whole of November in Hong Kong to track down as many of the CQB and Rural Skirmish sites as I can as well as ensure that all the Retail stores on Kwong Wa Street are listed on the Airsoft Map.

Hopefully I’ll get chance to take some photo’s of the Skirmish sites I find and will add some entries to www.AirsoftReviews.info for any I actually play at.

I’ll be updating the Airbana Twitter account with details of how it goes.

If you know of any Skirmish sites or Retailers that don’t have websites, aren’t on the map or aren’t easy to find please let me know by emailing Gareth@Airbana.net or adding them yourself to the Airsoft Map