CAGE IS CHANGING.....

Guys we have some simply amazing news which will need us to restructure the way that CAGE works. All of you will know that over the last couple of years CAGE has grown massively bringing on numerous CAGE WOODLAND Sites through the Ministry of Defence.

CAGE at this time has 5 main woodland sites in Kent these are:

ACRISE WOODS

300 acres of Chestnut woodland situated within a shallow valley

PILLARS WOODS

420 Acres of mixed wood separated in two parts by a narrow crossing between two fields

MEREWORTH WOODS

A Massive 1000 acres site situated just outside Maidstone with superb facilities, a huge variation of woodland types, roads and even a working helicopter pad.

REINDEEN WOODS

A 500 acre Woodland site with numerous concrete bunkers, roads and tracks

PARSONAGE WOODS

Our smallest site at 200 Acres of woodland (formerly part of the artillery range) and as such extremely broken terrain.

This sites are now coming under the banner of ”CAGE WOODLAND” the day to day running of these sites are staying pretty much as normal. Game play will be a mix of standard, battlesim and themed days and weekends. For walk-ons these will stay with our normal turn up and play booking in system.

THIS IS WHERE THINGS GET REALLY EXCITING....

CAGE are launching our new division “CAGE FIBUA”. This is an amazing step forward for us and thanks to the hard work of both the Mark’s we are pleased to announce the launch of four new sites.

These sites are part of the Army’s current FIBUA’s training programs and as such have some extremely high security procedures that we have to keep to. Firstly I’m going to tell you about the sites but these sites.

SERIAL 20 (HYTHE MILITARY RANGES)

Built for Northern Ireland Training this is a complete village including streets with houses, shops and pubs. There is a network of roads with roundabouts. Here is a few pictures to wet your appetite. These events will need to booked via the CAGE FIBUA booking system and rules.


LYDDEN BUNKERS

This site has been used for the last couple of years by CAGE as a FIBUA site and consists of several roomed bunkers previously used as armoury and ammo storage. Although we all know and love this site the Army is extensively altering the site in 2009/2010 so as they can conduct Afgan training. As such they are turning the bunkers into FOB’s (Forward Operating Base). What there actually doing is putting in HESCO walls and trench systems plus fortifying the bunkers themselves putting in roof access and sandbag walling the roofs. The Booking system for this site will remain the same as previously.


SERIAL 40 (LYDD RANGES)

Although similar to SERIAL 20, SERIAL 40 is on a slightly larger scale and is modelled on a Northern Ireland Housing estate. These events will need to booked via the CAGE FIBUA booking system and rules.


CONT IN NEXT POST.

THE REDOUBT

Orginally built as a napolonic fort it was extensively remodel by the War Ministry during the two world wars for anti aircraft batteries and costal defence. Later on this fort was again remodelled to provide the army’s FIBUA pistol training. We will be using this site for evening pistol and shotgun games. These events will need to booked via the CAGE FIBUA booking system and rules.

RIPE VILLAGE (LYDD TRAINING CAMP)

One of the UK’s Largest FIBUA training sites with over 300 buildings, This was built by the Army for Northen Ireland Training and was to simulate an entire town and suburbs. Based within the “town” is Richmond Fort a simulated army base within the town complete with walled compands and gaurd towers. These events will be limited on this site due to the frequency of military and counter terrorist training that is conducted on them, as such we will be holding two weekend events per year on this massive site. These events will need to booked via the CAGE FIBUA booking system and rules.

CAGE FIBUA BOOKING IN SYSTEM AND ACCESS RULES:

These additional rules have been set by the MOD, there are NO negotiations on them. If you don’t like them, then I am afraid you won’t be able to come to these events.

1. All Participants must be booked onto the event a minimum of 7 days in advance giving full name and address. This information will then be passed onto the MOD for security checks. If for any reason you do not pass the security check will not be allowed to enter the site/camp

2. The Gates to the FIBUA sites will be open to us between 8:15am to 9:15am All players will need to ensure that arrive on site during this time. Failure to do so will result in you being refused entry.

3. On arrival on site you will need to produce Photo ID either in the form of a Driving Liecence or passport. The Photo ID must be government issued.

4. NO CAMERA’s or MOBILE PHONES are allowed on site. This a security thing that they have insisted on. However I have agreed that you can hand in your mobile phones to CAGE on the gate where we will keep them locked up for the day.

5. All participants and vehicles will be searched on arrival to the site. This is to ensure you or your vehicle are not a security risk.



As I have said these security procedures have been put into place by the MOD as these are all active ARMY training sites. If you are not happy with them, then don’t come.

Our first game will be on the 31st October 2009 full details will be going up on to it’s own section of the forum.

CAGE as for a number of years provided quality woodland airsoft gaming, now we have some of the best CQB/FIBUA sites in the uk.

Cheers all


For more information on the booking system and dates, check THE CAGE FORUMS

Wow Edd this looks amazing so this is what you have been hiding under your hat eh? So when are these sites gonna be available? Is that what I should keep the 31st of oct free for?

31/10/09's game will be held at Serial 20, Grid refs, rules, how to book etc are all on www.cageairsoft.co.uk

Holy %$@$*&#$@*$%?#@$%^..... I want sites like that...

Redoubt like awesome! (well they all do)

Very interesting stuff. Serious shame about the media blackout, but i'm sure they'll be fun to play.

Unfortunately out of the country on the 31st, when are you planning on running Serial 40?

Will bung dates up about the other sites as soon as we get them.
We're trying to wangle possible " Official Photographer" status for a chap, and they can vet the photos or the like, but we shall see!

Ah yeh, that would be good.

Excellent. Are all the FIBUA sites in Kent?

wow *fruitcage* looks good

Do i need to join the forum to book the team in ?

Teetee, aye, they're all in the Hythe/Lydd range complex, apart from the Lydden site, which is near, you guessed it, Lydden That one isn't much at the moment, but it sodding well will be once they build the FOB on it

No, you just need to email the CAGE hotmail address ( CAGEAirsoft@hotmail.com) with your name, and full address. Then you can pay the £10 deposit either by cheque made payable and addressed to CAGE Airsoft @ UNIT 8-9 SHORNCLIFFE IND EST. NORTH CLOSE. FOLKESTONE. CT20 3UH.
We DO have a paypal address, but it's not fully set up yet, so wait out, and check the thread for updates: As soon as it's ready to go, I'll give the word.

Do not forget that if you are booking several people at once, you need their name and full address to, and if you are paying their deposit, you need to make sure you tell us who you're paying for: If your name is not down, and your deposit is not paid, you're not coming in, and it's out of our control! The Army will have their set list, and will stick to it like glue.

What are you limiting numbers to, at each location/each game?

Hi guys to answear your question on numbers. The two serial sites are suitable for player numbers around 80 -100. Ripe villiage is suitable for players number around 300 - 800

HI guys I sent my paypal payment for two people yesterday to the hotmail address on the cage forums, Shriven said today that the paypal address isn't fully up and running yet, although it went through ok. Mark W was the recip name.

A good idea would be to generate a confirmation email to say that your now on the list etc once the paypal payment has gone through!

wow.. jsut wow

31st october? Will be there, with friends. Remember seeing the 'serial 20' area on a police training film, always thought it would be decent for airsoft. And well done on getting the sites, know how many hoops they like to make you jump through!

Serial 20 looks amazing! at least 3 hour drive from me though

Wow, that looks amazing. Im jealous

Edit: what would a Non-UK citizen have to pull off to get to play here?

Holy

Moly

That is all.

I find it kinda ironic that the bases based on northern irish estates and such have a higher degree of security than actual bases here in norther ireland...

Still the redoubt looks pretty *fruitcage* epic but the pistol/shotgun only events dosnt really suit my taste =/

Book place at game. Fly to UK. Bring in/rent gun. Play game.

WOW! I've been praying for somewhere like this down south ever since airsoft adventures in newbury closed down 10 years ago. I'm going to be all over this like a fat kid on a cup cake

Non-UK Nationals will possibly have a little problem, due to the security checks perhaps taking longer, but who knows

finally some awesome fibua sites in Kent!

As you'll likely have noticed, the pictures have been pulled, at the request of the Army: Due to the nature of these sites, we've been asked to NOT post pictures or exact locations.

However, rest assured the game will STILL happen on the 31st, however, we will have to email those who have booked with coordinates.

While I realise this makes it somewhat difficult to choose whether you want to come or not, there's very little we can do. We've only been told this today, and are trying to come to an arrangement with the units involved...

In the meanwhile, I hear google maps is quite interesting to look at over the Hythe ranges area.
Or, if you don't like google, this man likes to take very interesting aerial shots of the beautiful Hythe area.
http://www.jasonhawkes.com/

*whistles and awaits a bunch of para pathfinders to dropkick him to the moon*

So we can have every nook and cranny of Copehill Down, Catterick, Longmoor, etc posted all over the net, but these are sensitive? Most obscure.

They're all unclassified y'see, these still aren't. Christ knows why, but they are.

Haha, gotta love Army bureaucracy! We are now allowed to show the pictures, due to a... miscommunication, shall we say, within the MOD.
Unfortunately, they made us delete them as they constituted a security breach. However, plenty of pictures can be seen in the post three above of this.

We're over half way full on bookings now lords and ladies, remember we have an absolute dead maximum of 80.

Shout up when '40 gets a date though mate, like the looks of that...

Most definately shall. With a bit of luck and a following wind, we'll get to play on it before the years end.

Excellent. I'd book for 20 if I weren't away, i'm sure you guys will have a blast.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT POST --- PLEASE READ

Due to a muck up on the Army end of things, we have been forced to move the date to NOVEMBER 14th ( 14/11/09).
Basically: We'd been given the go ahead by the Army higher ups ( regional commander) and the land manager. However, both neglected to tell the range commander. As such, the range commander promptly booked several hundred troops into the range area, and due to the nature of the sites, we cannot be on site if active personnel are training.

Now, I have emailed all of the people who have already booked, and refunds will of course be forthcoming for those who now cannot attend. Just reply to the email requesting a refund ( and we can do partial refunds if neccessary), and I'll get right on it.

The event once again, is on a Saturday, so public transport is available to the site.

SECONDLY: THE MOD HAVE REQUESTED LICENSE PLATE NUMBERS AND CAR MAKE SO THEY KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE GATE
We will require all bookings to email me the car ( i.e, Vauxhall Astra) and license plate number of the vehicle you will be using to come onto the site.
Obviously, if you are riding in someone's elses car, then you do not need to include that information: Only the driver need submit it.

Thank you very much for your understanding, and really hope you can all still make it!

Only 15 places left guys, need more deposits and vehicle regs ASAP. Sooner We get details in, the sooner I can send it all off for the necessary checks

FINAL DEADLINE IS TOMORROW!!!
Need all deposits and information 4pm tomorrow LATEST!

Booking is now CLOSED.

RIGHT!

MAP OF SERIAL 20!
These WILL be issued at the gate as well, but just in case you want to laminate or annotate
Grid Coords= 51.063374, 1.057696
This the entrance to the site, remember to turn up in the time slot, or you don't come in, remember you must bring ID ( Passport or Drivers License!)

Oh Lordy, lordy. What a great day. Quite the privilege to be the first airsofters to play this live training ground. Congrats to the CAGE staff for managing what was a potentially tricky day for them, and making it into a really, really good day of airsoft. The site is amazing. Urban CQB with bagloads of atmosphere, perfect engagement ranges for airsoft and a very good group of players. There was a massive wind prevailing, but the walls of the Serial protected us from the absolute worst of it, and regardless of its coastal position, epic kills were perfectly possible with pistols. Awesome. In fact, in the rain with thunder upon us and lightning making it absolutely filmic in its authenticity, two opfor took hits from my 5/7 at 15m while they were in a dash across open ground. That is airsoft at its very best - atmosphere, realism and brilliant sportsmanship.

Obviously, I highly recommend CAGE at Serial 20. They should be running monthly games there from now on, and you should do all you can to get there.

I can only reiterate the above! A frickin awesome day! Such good games well run and no one was left out of play. So much action it was insane! Cant wait for the future serial's

No word on whether the tester won us the rest of the sites or not ( gotta wait for the final result from the area commander), but from what the evaluator was saying to myself and Mark, we're very likely to get it. We also spoke about having days where we have half a day @ Serial 20 and half a day @ Serial 29 ( The Redoubt).

Thank you all who attended: Your outstanding sportsmanship and attitude made the day a pleasure to run and participate in. There was NO let up on the play from all sides... you all just kept on fighting like lunatics no matter what!

With a bit of luck, the area commander, once he's reviewed the video footage ( everything we did on the day was recorded, and we were allowed to see ourselves in action on a widescreen TV just before lunch, was hiliarious!), there's a possibility he might allow us to use the video for advertising purposes... and if we can manage that, hopefully we'll be able to get photographers in as well!

Oh, and next time, we're probably going to lower the ammo limits again: About 1 BB per player per day I reckon... the clear up was a NIGHTMARE! Thanks to the handful of guys who stayed behind to help!



To those who DIDN'T attend... if only I had pictures, I could show you what you missed. The site is almost purpose built for what we need to do. A covered briefing room with a 3D model leads to a chicane with a firing bay ( perfect for chrono'ing EVERYONE who enters the Serial), leading to one door that enters into the site itself. Toilet block, a fairly large covered area and COPIOUS amounts of parking! Not to mention, 23 buildings, all covered in interesting little items, like the coffins in the funeral care shop, the Police station with an RMP with his middle finger up, the garage with a selection of cars out front and pumps... Very interesting site indeed.

You're making me cry that I had to work last minute

Right, thank you all very much to all you chaps and chappese who turned up and made it such a great day! From a marshalls perspective, you were great, and from a players perspective, you were fun!
The weather was brutal at times, but that awesome blast wall saved us from the majority of it.

Now, onto the actual news.... Mark has spoken to the Army, and they've said they're happy for us to continue using the various Serial's we have been offered. Mark is now in the process of sorting out a big block of dates, for about 3-4 months worth of both CAGE FIBUA and Woodland fun times. This larger block of dates will likely be the norm ( making it easier on ALL involved!)

Now, none of this is in concrete, nothing has been signed sealed or delivered just yet. As I say, Mark is currently negiotiating for the next batch of dates for FIBUA and Woodland, and hopefully we'll have either a Serial 20 or Serial 40 game next month some time.


Long story short: Got the FIBUA sites, wait out for further information!

That's awesome news man, I'm sure the T-baggers will be back soon!


Any more thoughts on lowering the ammo limit? 600 per life feels about right to me.

Yeah, that'd be the ideal , we'll also probably limit the numbers to 60 ( for Serial 20), since that seemed just the right numbers.
All of this'll be discussed next time we have a staff meeting.

60 feels like it would make a better number.

Any chance we could use tie bandages instead of masking tape for wounds? A few of us (myself included) found that the masking tape was blowing off in the wind, or falling off when wet.

Also, i know we are a pyro laden bunch of mil-simmers, but pretty, pretty please can we carry more pyro into games?

I had a great time at serial 20 will defo be coming back

Just wanted to suggest that the regen time of 5 mins might be too long for such a close site. A lot can happen in 5 mins in serial 20 :-P I remember one particular point where I was taken out while with a large number of friendlies were holding the enemy at their spawn point. As i waited my 5 mins the police station filled up with reds and before any of us could respawn they'd managed to take the police station :-P

Obviously kudos to the blues but it did seem a little see-sawish to go from holding the enemy within their base to having your own base captured all within the confines of 5 mins!

Definetely agree with you Tome, hence why the latter part of the day was medics, and we'll likely not use a timer for that site again... as you say, 5 minutes is a LONG time there
It was an entirely new site for EVERYONE involved, so it was much a learning curve for us as it was for the players!

Like to say what a great day. Yes ammo limit could be decreased a conciderable amount. Can you also seal up that bloody hole where that guy was sticking his barrel through with the flappy curtain in front. It was almost impossible to breach!