“The Gathering” is one of the most anticipated events in the Filipino-British Airsoft community. Held last Sunday, 15 August 2021, at the Tower Airsoft in Billericay, Essex, it was hosted once again by ACE Brigade Airsoft Events in partnership with Popular Airsoft. Gates opened and registration started at 0800.

Each paying player was given a free raffle ticket which was included in the registration.

Like all ACE Brigade events, teams were divided into two; The Special Ops and The Rebels. Each team had its designated Team IC. The role of Team IC for the Special Ops team was given to Azzkicker and Eric “The River Ninja” was tasked to be the Team IC for the Rebels Team. Both had the responsibility of making sure the players knew what the mission is and to ensure that the games ran smoothly without them affecting the results.

The 1st two games were aimed to get the blood flowing. Two initial fast paced run and shoot games. The objective was to invade the enemy’s base by bringing your team flag inside the other team’s building. Each player only had one life. The Special Ops’ base was the Castle while the Rebels’ was he Church. The Rebels dominated both games and whooped the Special Ops asses. And to make it more painful for the Special Ops team, the Rebels even managed to capture the Special Ops’ team flag.

With the Team Rebels’ morale running high, they opted to be the attacking group in the 2nd game which was a fallback game. Rebels at the start will have to clear all Spec Ops defenders off the Bridge, then to the Village, all the way to the Buses and finally assault the last stand in the Castle. The rebels thought they would easily run down the Special Ops team but they had a hard time penetrating through the Village and the abandoned Buses even with the help of their highly skilled snipers. It took the Rebels 56 minutes to clear all 4 stages and by the end of the game, it was already lunchtime.

Like all Filipino gatherings, everyone shared their own packed lunches and drinks. It almost looked like a small fiesta with all the food, drinks and loud music. It was also time for the 1st part of the raffle. The prizes were sponsored by our friends from OneTigris, Viper Tactical, Anvil Airsoft, Airsoft Tactical Kit, Redwolf Airsoft UK, ROE Airsoft, CAMORAIDS, and Popular Airsoft.

After the Lunch break, it was time to turn things around and it was the Special Ops’ turn to be on the offensive. The objective of this game was to get the “bomb” (a smoke grenade) that is inside an ammo box. The ammo box was placed in the middle of the road which cuts across the game site and the team’s main mission was to detonate the “bomb” in the middle of the Bridge. The Special Ops team started out quite slow in the Woodlands but was able to pick up the pace when they managed to get rid of the rebels' well-camouflaged snipers. By the time the Special Ops team got to the Tanks, it was already too late and there was no stopping them. They were able to complete the mission in just over an hour.

The final game was a pistol-only match held at the abandoned Buses area. The participating players were equally split into two teams which then went head to head. The winning team was then split into two smaller teams to battle it out until there were only 3 players left in each team. The 3 players from the winning team were each given a prize. It was a very intense and fast paced game with different tactics employed by individual players to get the best result.

Before the day ended, it was time for the Second part of the raffle for the major prizes. We had minor prizes from Airsoft Tactical Kit and Viper Tactical and then we went to draw the 3 major prizes. Third prize was a full metal and wood AKs 74U care of ROE Airsoft. Second prize was an M4 Specna Arms Edge with Aster Gate care of Popular Airsoft and the Grand prize was a fully-upgraded Tokyo Marui Glock 17 Gen 4 from the boys in CAMORAIDS.

At the end of the day, it did not matter if one was Special Ops or a Rebel. The most important thing is everyone had a nlast! Thanks once again to all the sponsors and See you all on the next ACE Brigade event!