Comrades in Arms was set up by five like-minded experienced airsofters with an interest in WW2.
Frustrated with the Catch-22 of there being no WW2 airsoft games due to too few players with authentic kit and yet too few players because of the lack of games the CiA organisers decided to kick the WW2 scene into action. Games that were being organised by sites could best be described as ‘themed’ having many players running round in DPM and with Armalites and Camelbaks, which wasn’t what CiA had in mind at all.
With the knowledge that there were a few players with kit dotted around the country but not enough to make a game worthwhile CiA devised a looks-like list of uniforms and weapons that would allow players to get involved and look the part without great expense.
To support this effort a web site was created along with a lively forum that allowed the exchange of both enthusiasm and useful information.
The first game was set for December 2006 at the First & Only site in Derbyshire. CiA was reasonably sure there were enough players to build an Allied side with little difficulty – Germans were going to be a struggle, which was where the looks-like scheme would kick in. What actually happened surprised everyone. Whilst a few players turned up in the allowed Flectarn, airsofters being airsofters kitted themselves out with authentic period German gear! Sixty or so players created an amazing airsoft recreation of The Battle of the Bulge and a good pool of enthusiastic players had been created.
By now interest was coming from WW2 re-enactors intrigued by the airsoft angle as well as many airsofters who had assumed that WW2 was incredibly expensive to get into. The WW2 scene got another boost when the economical Chinese MP40’s came onto the market which were quickly bought up by the Axis players who could at last use something other than ‘captured’ Thompsons.
The next challenge set by CiA – was a re-creation of the ‘Bridge Too Far’ battle at Arnhem (actually the Phoenix Urban site in Derbyshire). They knew there was now a sufficient player base for the German side but this game was set to have no US troops and the number of WW2 British players was way too low to make a game viable. As a precaution they introduced a Dutch Resistance option to bolster the Brits (the Dutch impression being easy and cheap to recreate). Yet once again airsofters came up trumps – some buying additional kit for a British Airborne impression, others coming from reenacting and yet more players new to WW2 getting into the British scene. CiA closed the booking at 85 players with airsofters coming from Dundee in the North and Guernsey in the South.
Many more games have now been run and although kit and weapon rules have been tightened somewhat the CiA team fulfilled their original aims:
- Non-profit making and site independent
- Organise WW2 games that follow a principle of restricted ammo, authentic uniforms and weapons, and period props giving a high degree of suspension of belief
- Clear and consistent rules for CiA and CiA supported games
- Encourage site owners to run like-minded WW2 games
- Create a hub for WW2 airsofters to share their enthusiasm
- Forge links between suppliers, sites and players
- Keep an ‘friendly and inclusive’ approach rather than ‘elitist and stitch-counting’
In late 2012 the Comrades in Arms team regrouped to three main organisers and they carry forward the principles of:
- Non-profit making and site independent
- Organise WW2 games that follow a principle of restricted ammo, authentic uniforms and weapons, and period props giving a high degree of suspension of belief
- Keep an ‘friendly and inclusive’ approach rather than ‘elitist and stitch-counting’
Comrades in Arms web site: www.comrades-in-arms.co.uk
Email to: info@comrades-in-arms.co.uk
