Is there a shift in Airsoft?

I don't know really, I have just started getting Vietnam stuff as there are Vietnam games being run near me all year round, it just seems a shame to miss out on them, but I have also come over to the Germans as I didn't want to collect Russian or US kit, but you are right, there are getting fewer Germans out at the games now, other than Op Jedburgh the Germans have been outnumbered at all the games that I have been to in my Gebrigsjeager rig.

I'm not sure the proposition is true - all CiA events have had a full compliment of Germans. The upcoming Devils Hill has booked more Germans than yanks so far!

I'm not sure the proposition is true - all CiA events have had a full compliment of Germans. The upcoming Devils Hill has booked more Germans than yanks so far!

Though you have to agree there was a time when the German side would fill up within 48 hours of a game becoming available. and the 'Devils Hill' game has been open for bookings since March. So it would suggest a drop in number.

Though i'm not taking just about CiA events here. Im talking about the genre in general. Though it would appear that smaller skirmish type games have been introduced to fight the numbers game.

Im not trying to poo poo CiA. Im just showing concern as i enjoy WW2 Airsoft the same as anyone, and dont want it all to end.

Though you have to agree there was a time when the German side would fill up within 48 hours of a game becoming available. and the 'Devils Hill' game has been open for bookings since March. So it would suggest a drop in number.

There was a time when both sides would fill up within 48 hours, i think it's more to do with the current economic climate than anything else.

However, having said that, i tend to agree with your point about a perceived lack of Germans at the moment. It doesn't help that from experience, as PBI, we've found that there are a fair amount of German players than do SS only, and a fair amount that will do Wehrmacht only, so if you try to limit unit participation for accuracy's sake, you cut a good number of potential Germans. It's this reason that means the German side tends to be more mismatched at events.

Im not trying to poo poo CiA. Im just showing concern as i enjoy WW2 Airsoft the same as anyone, and dont want it all to end.

I didn't think you were poo-pooing. As Evo says, early bookers have pretty much vanished and in the current situation is that it is just possible to scrape 20 players a side by game-day - and that is only because some players are multi-kitted so can move between Russian/Brit/German/Polish/American etc. The active, playing WW2 airsoft community is still very small and centres around a core of die-hards with others coming and going around the periphery. At one time players found any excuse they could to get to a game, now it seems the opposite is true. I blame Mr Brown.

Yeah i do believe the ecomonic climate is very much to blame. I've not played an airsoft game for 5 months, mainly due to no perm job, so ive gotta watch the pennies. I've moved into collecting vietnam gear, so hopefully that'll keep me going until those pesky germans re appear.

Yeah i do believe the ecomonic climate is very much to blame. I've not played an airsoft game for 5 months, mainly due to no perm job, so ive gotta watch the pennies. I've moved into collecting vietnam gear, so hopefully that'll keep me going until those pesky germans re appear.

Heh, this illustrates part of the problem too - players endlessly frittering cash on more kit instead of actually going to games. This forum is choc a block with kit collectors - but very few players!

the 'Devils Hill' game has been open for bookings since March. So it would suggest a drop in number.

Actually, booking opened on July 12th.

CW is right though, CiA don't really struggle for Germans, it's the allies we have more difficulty with, for reasons only the players who stay away know. We've gone out of our way to cater for the Brit's, the Yanks and the Russians this year and, the only side which filled up quickly was the Russians! Who'd have thought that, eh? Given the number of people on here who have Brit and/or Yank kit, it's a bit of a surprise.

Well its not just collecting..i will be playing nam soft. Though you might see Dog Company sign up to a CiA game in the new year.

Yeah i do believe the ecomonic climate is very much to blame. I've not played an airsoft game for 5 months, mainly due to no perm job, so ive gotta watch the pennies. I've moved into collecting vietnam gear, so hopefully that'll keep me going until those pesky germans re appear.

Isn't that a contradictory statement though? You've not attended games because you're watching the pennies, but you're spending money on kit....

Yeah i do believe the ecomonic climate is very much to blame. I've not played an airsoft game for 5 months, mainly due to no perm job, so ive gotta watch the pennies. I've moved into collecting vietnam gear, so hopefully that'll keep me going until those pesky germans re appear.

Isn't that a contradictory statement though? You've not attended games because you're watching the pennies, but you're spending money on kit....

From experience, 'nam kit is considerably cheaper than ww2 gear though. I got a complete VC loadout for about the price of a single airsoft day.

yeah, my VC loadout was dirt cheap as well

As to "lack of Germans" i'd put that down to :

1: Churn (people leaving and joining the hobby)
2: Politics. Sadly there are people that i personally wont play against, due mainly to their attitude to others (same goes for "modern" Airsoft as well)
3: A fairly fixed size player base spread over more events

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Yeah i do believe the ecomonic climate is very much to blame. I've not played an airsoft game for 5 months, mainly due to no perm job, so ive gotta watch the pennies. I've moved into collecting vietnam gear, so hopefully that'll keep me going until those pesky germans re appear.

Isn't that a contradictory statement though? You've not attended games because you're watching the pennies, but you're spending money on kit....

From experience, 'nam kit is considerably cheaper than ww2 gear though. I got a complete VC loadout for about the price of a single airsoft day.

Ah, gotcha. I know nothing about Vietnam....

yeah, my VC loadout was dirt cheap as well

As to "lack of Germans" i'd put that down to :

1: Churn (people leaving and joining the hobby)
2: Politics. Sadly there are people that i personally wont play against, due mainly to their attitude to others (same goes for "modern" Airsoft as well)
3: A fairly fixed size player base spread over more events

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You can get a good VC loadout not including the AEG for £50-60 quid. Plus im swapping un used WW2 gear, and selling bits.

So what do you think could be done..to attract newer Axis players?

ive got an old player and a new one coming to devils hill and both are buying german kit

So what do you think could be done..to attract newer Axis players?

I don't think much can be done. It's a bit of an acquired taste.

German gear has always been more expensive to buy and the wide variety of tunic patterns, camo, Waffenfarbe, etc. can be very confusing and probably puts a few people off.

Also some people just don't like the idea of wearing a swastika.

we offer free kit and it still isnt enough. I now have 10 sets of german kit almost as good as my personel kit!

Its more down to groups not single players that is the problem, loose a group of germans and you have just lost x axis players out of the field that may be the bulk. The 16th have one hell of a busy year with all the shows they do, also the FJ2nd reg guys are a large group that if the date isn't any good takes 10men out of the field. Saying that, at the last 3 events we have had good numbers of germans, they just book at the last minute.

What is very helpful are the single players that will play what ever is needed

When we first started up we had CIA (germans) Gunman (allies) and it was awesome as all the players got to play with their mates and the numbers were good. Over the past years the groups 2 communities now play along side each other more and more as does the whole scene. We need more groups of mates that want to play germans at Gunman, CIA needs more groups of Allies by the sound of it?

It's a difficult one and all points are valid. Fingers crossed that the climate picks up and we can go back to business as usual. Grant you I too have jumped on to the nam soft wagon. Hell, it was the new M60 that got me going.

So what do you think could be done..to attract newer Axis players?

Speaking as a new player.... it is really down to the preferences of your immediate friends. We've mainly done 1980s Cold War airsoft the last few years, the gear is fairly easy to pick up and it was 'our' war, even if it never really got hot. But I've had a long standing (30+ years) interest in WW2 and wargaming, so WW2 airsoft was fairly inevitable for me.

My personal preference would have been to start with British kit but we've ended up going German as that was what the others wanted to do, and which I'd vaguely imagined would involve repurposing our Flecktarn rigs with some new webbing but seems to have involved buying a ton of new stuff. The British stuff will just have to wait for now.

Cheers
Martin