Cerberus

[Manius]

Cerberus Airsoft are a former Airsoft team based in Yorkshire who decided that there were aspects of site organisation and running that they could just do better than the sites they visited.

There first site is based at Rivock Edge Forest, NR Keighley, West Yorkshire and is some 640 acres of mature conifer woodland.

They are currently working on a 2nd FIBUA site…more news soon.

[Manius]

EXCITING NEWS!!!

Cerberus have secured The Earth Centre (Conisborough, Doncaster) for FIBUA airsoft events!!

The details:

Cerberus Airsoft are pleased to announce that we have secured the sole use of the Earth Centre for Airsoft on an indefinite contract.

Airsoft with a difference - this is a totally unique site. The Earth Centre used to be an educational nature theme site before it closed down in 2004, since then its been mothballed and remains largely untouched. It covers 160 acres of varied terrain, multi levels and with plenty of features, there are hills but nothing like the ones at our woodland site and it's much easier on your legs.
Excellent transport links include its’ own railway station with regular direct trains from Doncaster and Sheffield, the site is just 5 minutes from the A1 and even has it’s own mooring quay if you want to arrive by boat along the river Don.

The Safe Zone is located in what was the Cafe/Office building and is complete with plenty of tables and chairs on the ground floor with more upstairs. It has a fully intact kitchen and serving area’s as well as plenty of flushing toilets, showers and changing rooms. The same building will house the Ops/briefing rooms used in scenarios.
The rest of the site has many buildings, large and small, most of which are multi storey spread around the site. Other features include an underground tunnel system, a large lake, two bridges, a watch tower with zip wires, an assault course, many wooded areas, open fields, roads and tracks, a village and even a pirate ship. The possibilities for this site are limitless.
Clearly, this is a very special site and initially we'll use it for special events like 24hr combat missions and themed games. We're busy planning the first 24hr event and more details will be revealed soon. Through the winter months we'll put up some dates for open days there as well.
Over the next few weeks we'll be holding some preview open days so players can have a good look around and get a better feel of the site. If you'd like to be invited on one of these days just let us know.
An interactive map of the site can be found here:

www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk/Cerberus/Earth/Earth.htm

The site is not active yet but work parties are underway to ensure the site is clear, safe and ready to use in the next few months. Volunteers are needed!

[aitch]

A pirate ship you say....

H

[Manius]

Oh yes....



...and a village...

[john]

I've had a good look at the advert on MANC AS and can honestly say HOLY nuts this site looks truly amazing.

[Manius]

I will let everyone know as soon as I can when it’ll open up.

I will also be trying to find a free weekend so I can get down there to help out in the clearing of the site.


…the fact I’ll be bringing a camera is neither here or there.

[Lt Gebra]

Buggwer me, it's even got it's own station! Truly the best site ever!

[john]

Lots of pics on the MANC AS forum and an "interactive" map on the Cerberus site.

www.manc-as.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=4717&st=0&start=0
www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk/Cerberus/Earth/Earth.htm



DN12 4EA put this into Google maps

[Manius]

Gebra...did we forget to mention the boat berths its got??

Anyone want to travel by boat (Nam patrols come to mind).

[Manius]

Operation Typhoon, Cerberus Airsoft, The Earth Centre.

The Site:

First impressions count and this site really impresses from the on-set. The site is large and well equipped with buildings, though at this point I am unsure what buildings will be available for CQB as the scenario played on the day was primarily outside.

The terrain is relatively flat in most places with only embankments to cover and low elevated areas which give good cover and encourage tactical play.

Facilities must be right up there in the top 5 airsoft sites in the UK, with full indoor accommodation for the safezone, covered test range, indoor toilets and kitchen facilities.

The site is large without being too large. Throughout the game I didn’t even stray into the 2nd half of the site, I was tired as normal but not dog-tired as I can get.

All in all, an exceptional site with an extraordinary potential for events.

Personal Impressions on the Day:

Cerberus Airsoft have opted to save this site for special scenario days/weekends etc and this is a good idea. The site is so special but over use will breed players who know every angle and every marker for range…an elite who’ll rule the site and depress the rest of us. So kudos for this choice by Cerberus.

Approximately 70-80 players attended the event on the 31/08 with the allied side being outnumbered by approx 10 players.

As an allied player we were given a very detailed briefing prior to our deployment with one main objective. We had concerns that the objective given covered only the first hour of play at the most but trusted that Cerberus had more in store for us upon its completion.

Unfortunately, although the briefing had gone very well and was exceptionally professionally given…things started to unravel immediately.

Having been given the green light to deploy a member of staff led us to our deployment zone which was not the operating area we’d been given in the briefing. He then proceeded to get lost three times. Ok, it’s a new site so we’ll excuse that but why not use the given forward operating base (FOB) and just leave us to get lost on our own??

Once we established our FOB, we moved onto the main objective. We were to assault a small building which was given as a drug production lab, once assaulted and secured we were to remove any drugs to an evac point and await further orders.

Once we’d carefully stalked up to the target building we got into position to assault. It was at this point that a ref told us to hold as the rebels were not in position…in fact the building was empty still!

I was later advised that the Rebels had their briefing at there FOB and not in the safezone, which meant they had to trek across the site, receive their briefing only to trek right back across it to nearly the safe zone to get into position.

After a 20min wait they were ready to receive us…bang goes our element of surprise.

Still the assault went well, very well and we succeeded fully. We then carried the phy-rep drugs (good phy-reps by the way) back to our FOB and waited further instructions.

It was at this point that it seemed to us that the organisers just did not envisage us to complete the task either as planned at all or with the speed we did. We’d been playing for far less than an hour and now just sat in our FOB and waited.

We requested evac of the drugs but were told by the organisers just to stash them…which did not make sense…and it is my strong belief that the organisers did not have any scenario thought out past this initial engagement. I believe this as our next assignment was not given until late afternoon and I think it had been put together rapidly on a local PC and printed out on the same.

To fill the time we were given the task of assaulting a local landmark right next to the enemy base (and respawn point). In itself this was ok, but garbled messages (a problem throughout the day which clearly lacked coherent C&C) meant that half our force moved too close to the enemy base and were captured…me included.

Now, at our briefing we had all been given a credit card with secret instructions on it for the event of our capture. In effect we had a value, meaning that if captured we could be sold back to our own side. Good idea, but without any clear “points” value based on that and a combination of the Rebels not understanding the meaning of this, loss of communication down the line to our own leaders and an apparent unwillingness on the Allied side to play the part, all lead to those captured spending the good part of an hour in the company of the Rebels and doing little else.

Once back with our own side we had a light lunch (all included in the price, as we’re ammunition supplies) and then rejoined our own group. It was then we were given our 2nd mission…to capture several key Rebel leaders, we all were given a printed form with pictures of these people and sent off. Unfortunately, as the Rebels themselves lacked any clear objectives for the day at all, we found that most of the rebels just “camped” near their own base leaving us incapable of performing our snatch duties.

Overall:

On the whole it was an “ok” day. First timers were disappointed over the lack of structure to the day, experienced players were unhappy about a lack of objectives to perform for an all day scenario and the lack of coherent communication from the organisers and a lack of autonomy for their forces.

Price wise…as a Cerberus site member it cost me only £20 (walk-on £25) and for that I got a day airsofting, breakfast and lunch as well as all the ammo I needed!!

So value wise this is just a steal, so much so that I actually HOPE Cerberus put the price up for the next event. Yes, include everything you did yesterday but charge £5 more per head…£5 isn’t too much more to ask.

Clearly the site itself is purely spectacular which meant the lack of support in scenario really showed up. All in all, we had finished our tasks in the first hour of the day and, by all rights, should have been able to disembark and go home (as the scenario dictated really).

On this note, I have offered my services as someone used to writing a weekend plot that’ll entertain 100+ Larpers (and we all know how fickle they are) to help write a follow-up to the event. The basic premise has lots of potential if only it had been plotted in a similar vein as an LRP event is.