The amount of times I've been to open games and week games in my ww2 kit a lot them say really like your kit but as usual they like the cod crap 4 drop leg holsters chest holsters night vision red dots and etc etc
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Yep I really have to echo that, I've been playing open days for nearly 4 years now and although plenty of people talk to me about the kit/ guns (the PPSh seems a favourite), the attraction for modern kit always seems to overrule it. 
the attraction for modern kit always seems to overrule it.
I'm so perplexed by this attraction... Get an M4. Look like everybody else 
Kitwhore files: S&S Lee Enfield No. 4, AGM Sten Mk. II, Tanaka Kar 98k, WE Luger P08
Wishlist: AGM Stg44, possible LE No. 4 gas project
its just slowly slowly catchy monkey attracting new ww2 players and there really are some airsofters who just don't know we exist.
armoury
m1a1 Thompson,sten mk2,mp40,stg44,sterling,mk2 bren gun,lee Enfield no4 mk1,Mauser Kar98, Walther ppk,smith and Weston m10 and Mauser m712
Give me a big enough hammer and a place to stand and I could fix the world.
i'll kill a man in a fair fight or if i think he's going to start a fair fight or over a woman or.......
a problem shared is a problem halved ,but an advantage shared is no advantage at all
if a job's not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well
By slowly, do you mean "For the last six and a half years"?
And, the flow of new players into the genre hasn't really matched the exodus of the "veterans" either.
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
i can't really speak of veterans as i've only been in for 3 years.
armoury
m1a1 Thompson,sten mk2,mp40,stg44,sterling,mk2 bren gun,lee Enfield no4 mk1,Mauser Kar98, Walther ppk,smith and Weston m10 and Mauser m712
Give me a big enough hammer and a place to stand and I could fix the world.
i'll kill a man in a fair fight or if i think he's going to start a fair fight or over a woman or.......
a problem shared is a problem halved ,but an advantage shared is no advantage at all
if a job's not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well
Well, an awful lot of the "originals" have disappeared lately. They were the people who gave the whole thing a foundation in the first place and we owe them all our thanks, wherever they are now.
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
Do we know why they left? Is/was there a common thread?
Nope. Family, boredom, economy, age, frustration, new hobbies, new kids, injury/illness. Lots of reasons.
Boredom and frustration are the two worrying ones, to my mind...
Boredom and frustration are the two worrying ones, to my mind...
Nah, people have short attention spans. After a while people get bored of things, despite everything. Frustration with certain individuals (naming no names myself, but I know people have had personality clashes), frustrated that the genre goes through a cycle and returns to the start every few years meaning we have to start from scratch again, frustration with players who don't get the ethos....etc, etc.
Hell, I'm frustrated that after nearly 8 years of doing this and made so much progress within the genre we seem to have taken so many steps back again.
Ah well, Russia wasn't conquered in a day... 
Our WW2 scene is still in its infancy here in the South, so tips - DO's and DON'T's - are always welcome.
Could it be that there are, like fim / book plots only a finite number of games? All of the "new" ideas you hear have sort of been done and people seem to enjoy novelty. I seem to recall Chommers making u... er ... quoting ( 
) a statistic that the average turn around time for an airsofter in the hobby was 3 - 4 years, so it's not surprising people are drifting off for all the reasons Steve cites. Add to that the fact that the demographic who were weaned on the Saturday Matinee double bill on BBC2 because we were lucky enough to have parents who didn't watch sport are getting a bit creaky for running about all day. Why are less people joining in?
Could it be that WW2 airsoft was very succesful at reaching the majority of folks who would be interested enough to give it a few years? I don't think it would be unfair to say that a lot of the early interest in ww2 airsoft was riding on a wave powered by Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Jude Law and the (then) recent 60 th anniversary of the D-Day landings. WW2 was mahoossive but even Call of Duty got bored of it and went all Modern Warfare. Not even UK History is wall to wall nartzee-vision these days, it's 8 hours of Catheine Cookson with an unhealthy dose of Last of the Summer Wine. Modern warfare really does change, there are always new and exciting weapons & cammo patterns. Airsoft drone anyone? (it's almost as if H&K & the MOD are in cahoots with TM & Mil-tec. You can't really have MP46s or new designs of splinter cammo.
As for being spolt for choice, I disagree. There are only 3 games on the calendar, nothing in July. Unfortunately a few of us can't make the August one, it clashes with a regular reencting event (one of only 2 we always do) but on scheduling, I generally like to have games in the diary much further in advance than they have been appearing recently so when other things come up I can say "no, sorry busy that wekend." (I was originally meant to be going on holiday for the June game but unfortunately / luckily I had to cancel.) As for the future, unfortunately If we leave the hobby to "market forces" and we have to rely in getting large numbers of bums on seats before an event is viable we will just have the inevitable race to the bottom, and I don't mean relaxed kit standards. I have no problem with "counts as" as per the kit guides, I mean trigger heavy blatfests, open day style SISKs.
Nah, people have short attention spans. After a while people get bored of things, despite everything. Frustration with certain individuals (naming no names myself, but I know people have had personality clashes), frustrated that the genre goes through a cycle and returns to the start every few years meaning we have to start from scratch again, frustration with players who don't get the ethos....etc, etc.
Hell, I'm frustrated that after nearly 8 years of doing this and made so much progress within the genre we seem to have taken so many steps back again.
Pretty much sums it all up for me too. I've actually dipped my toe back into more modern milsim type stuff recently, because they are the type of games which offer me the closest experience to the CiA games of old.
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
As with all hobbies, people tire of it after a while. Real life gets in the way and you tend to be far more selective about what you want to spend your free time on.
There is also an element of Groundhog Day in watching people join the hobby:
"Just getting into WW2 airsoft and fancy doing 101st Airborne"
"Just getting into WW2 airsoft and fancy doing Merchant Navy Arctic Convoy. Can I still go to your El Alamein game?"
Once you realise that you're becoming a grumpy old man, it's probably time to move on 
As for being spolt for choice, I disagree. There are only 3 games on the calendar, nothing in July.
Yes I agree, compared to other years (granted I'm a relative newbie this is only my 3rd year) there seems to be less games and very often not posted up so far in advance. If you look at the number of people currently booked on these games (not including the organizers): Chambois = 14, Monte LaDifensa = 13, Luga River Line= 4 an average of just 10 per game at the moment granted 2 of these events still have plenty of time for people to book on and all the organisers seem determined to make the events work even if the numbers are lower than hoped.
Despite a regular turnover of players there does seem to be a constant influx of new blood and some good people coming into the hobby. Also there seems to be plenty of activity on the forums so is it just people not attending as many events? I still think the country's financial situation is the major factor and believe things will shake themselves out in time.
reading the debates about too many/not enough games is curious. And from my rather limited knowledge, it seems there's a lot of discussion coming from organisers. I know you guys communicate to avoid clashes in the calendar, but has there ever been a "coming together" to organise a game. My thinking being, with all your experience, knowledge, followers and ideas, then surely this will make for an epic game (and reduce/share the risk of financial fall out). I know there may be clashes in playing styles/ethos' however, I'm sure you guys could pull it together. Could the organisers become recruiters for games? So say CIA gets a section/ squad / unit together, as Wladek would as BigKie and Lardass and maybe AGS? Each organised group could specify a nationality and division to be brought together to make the game. There's a heavy reliance on players booking up as individuals which can be off putting if your usual pals aren't in for it. If each organiser was managing their section/squad, it might make the overall organisation easier (many hands make light work).
For example Gunman runs a Bastogne game and Wladek recruits for the U.S. infantry and Josh the 101st. CIA and AGS gather the German units up and each organiser manages the logistics of their allocated "team". All come together on the day of the game and are all working from a communal game idea, rules and script. With an experienced organiser in "command" or each group, surely it will help control the game and ensure a great experience for all.
Any thoughts?
CiA worked closely with Gunman on the first D-Day, but it hasn't really happened since. I know Josh is keen, and I've talked to him about it, but often the issue is down to how to augment the game to be popular for all player types (leading to something that's not quite right for everyone), and just plain availability of all organisers to be able to commit to the same date!
A really big game makes me fearful. I just wouldn't like to have to administrate that. I ran the side for a national game in normal airsoft once....never again.
I was thinking of nothing larger than Josh runs already. Even if the "smaller" or non professional organisers came together (ooer matron) to achieve such an out come but on a smaller scale (unit sized battles). It would share the work load/risk and be easier to control on the day.
