Triple A Airsoft – Urban CQB Gem [Detailed Site Review]

Dover, known as the ‘lock and key of England’ where Julius Caesar tried to land during the Roman Invasion; and it has been the objective of many other invasions since then: William the Conqueror, Napoleon and Hitler. As well as the castle, Dover has a history as a military and garrison town, with forts and defences from the world wars – Dover was England’s frontline town.

Nestled right in the heart of this historic town is an Airsoft site where many a mini Sunday battles are regularly occurring. The Triple A CQB Airsoft site can be found in the Charlton Shopping Centre Multi Storey Car Park; once you tell your mates, they’ll all want a piece of that urban cqb action.

Key Highlights

• Unique location – Triple A is situated on two upper levels of the shopping centre car park; the lower level is used as the safe zone so you can prep out of your car, and the other is the playing field.
• Intense firefights with cleverly laid out covers around the field
• The day is split into a morning and an afternoon session from 10am to 1pm endex and 3pm to 6pm endex, but you are more than welcome to play the whole day. This makes it easy for players who usually cannot fit an entire day of airsoft into their schedule. 
• Games are short and quick, usually 15 minutes each and the objectives are simple and fun, making for very fast paced and adrenaline filled game play.

Car Park and Safe Zone

The car park is also the safe zone located at the lower level below the game zone, which as I’ve said above, is great for prepping your gear for battle. When you turn up you are required to pay for parking using an app on your phone, signs are displayed on this level for all the information on this and it’s around £4 for the day.

What is the cost of the Game Day?

If you want to book your place for a session, it’s £15 for one session and a £10 deposit sent via paypal.me/tripleACQBairsoft. The remaining balance is paid in cash on the day, if you get the hankering for a longer CQB session it’s an extra £10 to continue on into the afternoon.

Can I book on as a rental?

The site offers rental packages provided which are hired out per 3 hour session (morning or afternoon). Here are the prices for an individual session:

• £5 (£5 deposit) for a short barrelled pump action shotg⊔n replica
• £10 (£10 deposit) for Tri-shot pump action shotg⊔n replica
• £15 (£15 deposit) for an M4 replica 

All of the above packages include unlimited BBs for your session – face masks and eye pro can also be provided if you require them. To avoid disappointment make sure to book a rental at least 48 hours in advance; these can be secured with a £10 deposit.

On-site shop

There is a small on-site shop run by All Ages Airsoft which provides all the essentials you need to keep you going, BBs, tracer BBs, gas, pyros and smoke grenades. There is also a facility for charging your batteries which is very handy.

Is food available on site?

Food is not provided on site thus we recommend bringing a packed lunch and water. However, if you are staying the whole day and fancy something more essential, the site is located inside the town centre so you can easily pick something up there within a 5 mins walk.

Toilets

Toilets are actual porcelain thrones which I was very pleased to learn about and there is also a separate ladies toilet. These are part of the shopping centre, however, they are situated downstairs in the same building (carpark) so there is no need to actually walk through the public in the shopping centre.

Briefing and Limits

From the moment you first arrive, whether it’s your first time or tenth time, Boomer always has a warm welcome for everyone and is very open to opinions about the site and ways to improve. Once briefing commences he makes the rules extremely clear and concise, what is allowed and what is not, and non hit takers will be dealt with accordingly. The briefing is kept to the point, so no time is wasted. Chrono is also completed for all RIFs you bring along; this is done once you reach the game zone.  

A note to remember, there are no red or yellow smoke grenades allowed on site otherwise the coastal rescue will come for us! Also, the entire site is single shot only, as is common with most CQB sites! In regards to the FPS limits on the site, all RIFs are 350FPS max and be warned, there is no bang rule, so you will be shot very close!

Read More: do you love playing in unique airsoft locations? Make sure to try a game in the undergrounds of Drakelow Tunnels! Amazing fact – Drakelow is a historical site of WWII Aircraft Shadow Factory and later Cold War Nuclear Bunker!

The game zone is flat concrete, you don’t necessarily need to watch your every step but this site makes it easy to sprint during games. If you hit the deck, you will feel the impact. Please ensure you wear decent boots that support you, just because it’s flat and concrete doesn’t mean you should wear trainers, use your head or risk falling over or twisting your ankles. 

The map is a straight road flanked by a set of buildings which make up the village on either side of the road. The buildings are constructed of pallets, which provides cover as you work your way up the map, there is plenty of spots to hide and windows to peek through. There are also several mock washing lines and a car at one end of the site to provide extra cover.  

Something to note is this, although it’s not pitch black when there is daylight outside, the site is generally low light and unless you have a torch and tracers you are never quite sure if you’ve hit someone or not, so make sure you bring along low light equipment. 

There is a good mix of cover and open areas to continuously endure great fire fights and you are always quickly met by the opposition when each game commences; the site runners and Marshalls ensure that players take advantage of the entire map.

Also the layout of the map is subtly changed every so often by moving around 40 oil barrels which are big enough to provide new cover for up to 8 players. The marshalls also move the buildings about a little bit in order to create extra alleyways.

An extra and final bonus of Triple A is that the entire site is under a roof, so you can play this site any time of the year – the weather does not affect the site at all. It felt very smug on one particular Sunday when it was absolutely tipping it down outside and I was not covered in mud at the end of the day!

Each time I have returned to this site, there is always a different game to play. One of my favourites is a ‘protect the village game’. You play as angry villagers attempting to prevent the army moving in on your town. 

A lot of the games have been tactically driven and each objective will be given to you at the beginning of each game. However, how you decide to tackle the objectives is left up to you and your teammates. This forces you to use your brain and work closely with your team due to the size and intensity of each game. This makes for some unbelievably fast paced games and I have often come out laughing my head off from actually having too much fun.  

The final bonus of this layout is that the game zone is quite compact so only short walks are required to respawn from the regen at Triple A – this keeps the gameplay dynamic and fast paced.

Read More: a fantastic outdoor CQB village created with shipping containers, wrecked cars and more! Includes 2 levels and also a forest surrounding the village for bigger games! 

Before you leave, make sure to see the rest of our site review category by clicking here! 

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, if you want to take it easy and be treated with kids’ gloves, this is not the site for you. However, if you’re looking for a straight forward, no messing about CQB action, then this is a site you need to pay a visit. 

I must also stress that this site is not for the faint hearted, prepare for some pain as you will be hit at very close range and it’s gonna hurt. So make sure to wear a layer or two when you do come. Also, although the game map is cleverly thought out to make the best of the small space, I would love to see a complete rearrangement of the map every few months if possible. Regular players are getting too used to knowing all the spots which makes it hard for new players to play effectively and this would generally make it more exciting and dynamic for everyone.  

This has been one of the main sites I attend regularly, as not only do I love it, the site runners are some of the best. It’s truly one of the most underrated CQB sites in the south east, so come see what Kent’s best kept Airsoft secret is all about, you won’t regret it!

You can get in touch with the site and book your game through their facebook page – click here to be redirected.