Airsoft Action - December 2023
Another month flies by and here we are as always with a new monthly issue of AIRSOFT ACTION cram-packed with all the airsoft content we know you love! Kicking off proceedings this month with our cover and headline review Dan gets his teeth firmly into the latest OPFOR goodness from ARCTURUS in the shape of the PP-19-01 PE Z-TAC SP1, quickly countered for BLUFOR by Miguel with his initial field notes on the all-new SPECNA ARMS SA-FX01 FLEX, and we round out our main reviews this month by sticking with all things “9mm” as Bill heads to the range with the awesome CYMA CM106A PLATINUM! RED CELL stay on the SMG-track as they land their mid-term update on FIFTEEN MP5 VARIANTS, whilst the AA LEGION delve into the glories of AOR1 and 2 and what makes these patterns so special. There’s also a look at new eyepro from the EDGE tactical range that we’ve had in test for a while… We then turn our attention to airsoft around the world with our international coverage as Stewbacca lands an interview with the mighty NONOCAT from New Zealand, and then reports on his recent experiences at a Level 1 Competition shoot in Tainan! Miguel brings home his now-annual look at ANA Portugal’s SALAMANDRA game, and we wrap up this month with our report on the awesome 2023 G&G CQB WORLD CUP shoot in Taipei! You want airsoft? We’ll bring you airsoft stories and news from all over the globe, and we hope you’ll enjoy our content this month just as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it!
Another month flies by and here we are as always with a new monthly issue of AIRSOFT ACTION cram-packed with all the airsoft content we know you love!
Kicking off proceedings this month with our cover and headline review Dan gets his teeth firmly into the latest OPFOR goodness from ARCTURUS in the shape of the PP-19-01 PE Z-TAC SP1, quickly countered for BLUFOR by Miguel with his initial field notes on the all-new SPECNA ARMS
SA-FX01 FLEX, and we round out our main reviews this month by sticking with all things “9mm” as Bill heads to the range with the awesome CYMA CM106A PLATINUM!
RED CELL stay on the SMG-track as they land their mid-term update on FIFTEEN MP5 VARIANTS, whilst the AA LEGION delve into the glories of
AOR1 and 2 and what makes these patterns so special. There’s also a look at new eyepro from the EDGE tactical range that we’ve had in test for a while…
We then turn our attention to airsoft around the world with our international coverage as Stewbacca lands an interview with the mighty NONOCAT from New Zealand, and then reports on his recent experiences at a Level 1 Competition shoot in Tainan! Miguel brings home his now-annual look at ANA Portugal’s SALAMANDRA game, and we wrap up this month with our report on the awesome 2023 G&G CQB WORLD CUP shoot in Taipei!
You want airsoft?
We’ll bring you airsoft stories and news from all over the globe, and we hope you’ll enjoy our content this month just as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it!
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THE CAGE<br />
AOR<br />
AS WE CONTINUE TO DELVE INTO THE LOADOUT AND CAMO OPTIONS USED BY THE GUYS OF<br />
THE AA LEGION THERE’S ONE THAT IS SOUGHT AFTER BY MANY, BUT SOMETIMES HARD TO FIND<br />
IN “BIG BOI” SIZES, AND THAT’S AOR! BILL AND STEWBACCA DIG INTO THEIR PERSONAL GEAR<br />
LOCKERS TO LOOK AND THE 1 AND 2 VARIANTS AND FIND THAT WHEN IT COMES TO FINDING<br />
“SEAL” CAMO DAYS ARE IN FACT GETTING EASIER…<br />
In 2012 “Act of Valour (AoV)”<br />
brought us a story of USN SEALs<br />
racing around the world to combat<br />
the bad guys; real operators starring in<br />
their very own movie with some seriously<br />
righteous kit to play with. Roll on to “Zero Dark<br />
Thirty” where the AOR1 clad “Team 6” finally took<br />
down Bin Laden; this brought things fully up to date<br />
with the first view for many of us of the GPNVG18,<br />
along with Ops Core helmets, FN SCARs and MK18<br />
Mod 1s.<br />
SEALTEAM and SIX moved things on in 2017 and<br />
both featured some righteous kit for the geardos<br />
among us; sadly SIX only lasted a couple of seasons<br />
(allegedly due to an “overcrowded marketplace for<br />
military shows”) but SEAL TEAM continues to delight<br />
as it heads for Series 7 which will hopefully be starting<br />
to air by the time you read this! Whilst SIX portrayed<br />
the SEALs in largely multicam gear, SEAL TEAM really<br />
moved things forward with some properly cool “mixymatchy”<br />
kit, MC and MCBLK, and of course AOR…<br />
and long may it continue!<br />
One of the best things though is because of the<br />
popularity of this loadout numerous manufacturers<br />
have released both real deal and reproduction items<br />
in both AOR1 and AOR2. Basically “AOR” stands for<br />
“Area of Responsibility” with AOR1 being for desert<br />
or arid regions and AOR2 for temperate/forested<br />
areas. Initially many thought it was just an updated<br />
version of MARPAT, and indeed it does share some of<br />
the pixellated patterns of the USMC uniform pattern,<br />
although the tonality of the AOR patterns in quite<br />
uniquely different if viewed side by side to it.<br />
There are also numerous websites dedicated to<br />
the SEAL teams, and one of our personal favourites<br />
is “Silent Professional” although this sadly doesn’t<br />
appear to have been updated for some time; if you<br />
have an interest in anything SEAL though and you<br />
haven’t yet found it then get yourself onto www.<br />
silentpro.wordpress.com without wasting any time!<br />
“Silent Pro” was, and still is a repository of literally<br />
everything and anything that is pertinent to “The<br />
Teams”, and it looks in the most minute detail at<br />
every single bit of kit used from boots to bandanas<br />
and everything in between. The library of reference<br />
pictures is absolutely stunning, and there are links to<br />
manufacturers both real and repro.<br />
BILL: I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that like<br />
many I got seriously caught up in the whole AOR1<br />
“thing” after AoV!<br />
Luckily for me a number of manufacturers - both<br />
real and repro - were getting on board to ride this<br />
particular train so even going back a while I was able<br />
to start putting my updated loadout together. For the<br />
basis of the loadout I needed to find a CRYE combat<br />
shirt and pant in AOR1; searching online I found a<br />
number of genuine articles but a) I’m a tall lad and<br />
finding them in my size was a challenge, and b) what I<br />
did find required a bank loan to finance the purchase!<br />
A number of friends were also pursuing similar<br />
loadout ideas and had bought reproduction sets from<br />
the likes of Emerson and TMC but the colours of the<br />
“ONE OF THE BEST THINGS THOUGH IS BECAUSE OF THE POPULARITY OF THIS LOAD-<br />
OUT NUMEROUS MANUFACTURERS HAVE RELEASED BOTH REAL DEAL AND REPRO-<br />
DUCTION ITEMS IN BOTH AOR1 AND AOR2. BASICALLY “AOR” STANDS FOR “AREA OF<br />
RESPONSIBILITY” WITH AOR1 BEING FOR DESERT OR ARID REGIONS AND AOR2 FOR<br />
TEMPERATE/FORESTED AREAS.”<br />
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