It has been over 10 years since the last The Gathering of the ACE Brigade,which was held in Birmingham.  This time around, the event was hosted by Team Filcombat at AP (Airsoft Plantation) in Billericay, Essex last Sunday 23 August. Registration started at 0900H and each player who registers will have a ticket to join the raffle and get the chance to win amazing prizes during the day. The ACE Brigade is a large grouping of Filipino-British airsoft players together with friends who share their passion for airsoft.

Different Filipino-British teams started arriving from all over the UK such as Basildon, Cambridge, Colchester, Camden, Coventry, Dagenham, East London, Epsom, Leicester, Maidstone, Milton Keynes, Norwich, and West Sussex. This event was not exclusively for Filipinos as there were also English, Chinese, and Vietnamese airsoft enthusiasts who attended. Everyone had their own unique attire from multicam to PMC Loadout; from Ghillie suits to all-black SWAT team. Someone even decided to come in a bright pink floral shirt (which is great for target shooting).

All players were divided into 2 groups: Red Company and Blue Company. The games started around 10:30 with a warm-up round of “Attack and Defend” the Village wherein the Blue team easily overran the defending Reds.  In the 2nd round, the mission is to collect as much Cards designated to your Company’s colour. Although this time around, it was the Red team who was dominating field. The Blue team was having a hard time to push forward as the Reds managed to position themselves in strategic spots around the Mortar Pit. It wasn’t until the Blues decided to make the run for it in the last 10 minutes that they managed to gain some ground. At the end of the round, Blue Company was able to get 8 cards and Reds had 9. After 2 action-packed rounds of Airsoft, it was time for lunch.

Everyone brought their own Lunches but at the same time, sharing their meals with each other. The Raffle for the minor prizes was also drawn during the break. You can hear banter and laughter all throughout the safe-zone. It was such an amazing atmosphere! After the lunch break, the AP marshalls decided to have the 3rd and final round of Skirmish to be a classic Fallback game. To determine the winner, whichever company captures all three bases the fastest, wins! It was a very well fought battle against the Blues and Reds. The match ended with just a mere 12 second difference between the two teams, with the Red team winning the day.

To wrap up the day, it was time for the raffle of major prizes. These include two plate carriers from One Tigris and Popular Airsoft; an ICS BLE GBB Pistol with extra magazine from Battlezone Airsoft;  Specna Arms G10 from Popular Airsoft; Specna Arms M4 from Gunfire; Evolution Airsoft M4 from ROE Airsoft;  and a Tokyo Marui M40A5 Sniper Rifle from CAMO.

To cap it off, it really did not matter which company won. What was important is that everyone had a great time, met amazing people and left with big smiles on their sweaty faces. At the end of the day, everyone went home a winner!

Once again, a great big shoutout to the event organizers Eric Amada and Owen Lagman (Masterchief), Airsoft Plantation for the amazing scenarios and for making sure everyone was safe and had a great time, and to ALL our major sponsors.

Mabuhay at maraming salamat sa inyong suporta! Pagmamahal at kapayapaan sa inyong lahat! (Long live and thank you very much for your support! Peace and love to all!)

See you at the next The Gathering next year.