The Site List: Imperium Airsoft

New sites are opening constantly around the UK, and while you may not have heard of Imperium Airsoft yet, the Faversham-based site has something many well-established sites don’t: the ability to dick around in vehicles. 

That, or get chased by angry airsofters firing from the back of them as they move towards you. 

All images used courtesy of Imperium Airsoft. Photographs used were taken by Darwin of Atdarzairsoft.

At a glance

• Website: https://imperiumairsoft.com/
• Address: IMPERIUM AIRSOFT SITE ‘Battlegrounds’ Uplees Road Oare, Kent ME13 0QR
• Price: £35 for a walk on. Milsim and battlesim events vary. 
• Rental gear: AEG Rifle M4 / AK, 2 x High Capacity Mags, 5000 BBs for £75
• Lunch: Domino’s Pizza is available for £5. Biltong is on sale and recommended.  
• Frequency: Sunday every two weeks, running in tandem with Invicta Airsoft. 
• How to book: https://imperiumairsoft.com/packages/
• Toilets: Full toilets located in big blue block. Urinals too. 
• Car Park: Grass covered, lots of free space
• Safe zone: From cars.
• Shop: Platoon Stores runs the on-site store, click and collect possible.
• Card accepted: Yes

What to Expect

What to expect from Imperium Airsoft is wildly different depending on the day you attend. 

Regardless of whether you’re playing a full milsim or a more casual skirmish day, you should expect vehicles to be in play. This adds something fairly unique, and they’re used either as a way to break a stalemate and push forwards, for defence or even just for getting you to and from the safezone when you’re feeling a bit tired at the end of a match. The vehicles are the biggest “addition” to Imperium Airsoft compared to many sites, but the biggest plus point for the site is that they just do the basics really well. 

This means that Chronoing is really efficient, the crowd is solid, the games are well-run and well marshalled, and the site has a lot of interesting areas to fight over. 

Also, while we’re bigging them up, head marshall Ginge (who sold me a King Arms P90 ten years ago at a cracking price, so I’m already biased towards) delivers the best safety brief in the business. A welcome change to the butt-numbers you get at many sites. It’s important, because we need to not lose an eye, but that doesn’t mean safety can’t be fun.

Crucial thing: Imperium reserves the right to stop you filming on the site or from using their photos without credit. This is reasonable because their content is top notch (and their on-site photography gets great snaps and effortlessly manages to stay out the way of moving players, so he’s worth his weight in gold.) and their argument is that it’s them that should be making money from content shot during their game days.

What to bring

Let’s start with some big stuff: Box mags are banned at Imperium on non-support weapons, and the FPS limits are a bit weird, so take a look.

Got a DMR? You’ll want it here. While areas like the sand FOB (pictured above, behind my muddy self) and the surrounding hills can facilitate close-quarters play, a regular AEG feels short-ranged on some of the longer approaches.

A full bolt-action wouldn’t be out of the question, if you’re good with it. Several of Imperium’s regulars are roaming the grounds with ghillie suits and rifles, so there’s plenty of potential rivals just waiting for you to meet them.

DMR FPS limit is 420 FPS on a .2 at Imperium

If you’re going to run an AEG, smoke grenades aren’t a bad shout (show them to the site to make sure their insurance covers them, as you would anywhere.) 

The ground is hard work, so consider clothes that don’t snag, a decent pair of boots and maybe some waterproof socks in case you have to ford some of the shallow water on the site wouldn’t go amiss. The longer games require you to manage your own food.