Combat South Woodland

Airsoft action’s very own version of kate adie, les lee, heads of to the wild woodlands just outside portsmouth to visit a well-established airsoft site.

- Kate Adie, Les Lee

A SHORT WHILE AGO, SOMEBODY said to me “Hey Les, do you realise that you have got the dream job?” and I smiled and agreed politely but little did I realise just how true those words are. Who else gets to visit so many airsoft sites and shops, or carry out the occasional product test on something new after literally searching the world for items of interest in our amazing sport/hobby and then, after taking typically hundreds of photos, writing about the subject (thus reliving the experience) submitting it to the biggest and best Airsoft magazine for publication?

And today was no different when I set sail for one of the most established and respected airsoft sites in the south of England, Combat South Woodland, just a few miles north of Portsmouth. If you read the February issue, you would have seen an “Inside Airsoft” feature of a shop of the same name (minus the woodland tag). Well this is the other side of the Combat South coin, today is site day and I will do my best to take you through a step by step insight of what is on offer, from arrival until close of play.

Combat South is and always has been a family business, from when it was started in the mid-nineties by the late Steve Banks RIP, his wife Judith and the “boys”, Russ and Paul. The inspiration came from the various air and military shows where they set up shooting galleries with paper targets. This proved to be so popular they found that with a little more investment, the idea of shooting real live targets (that also shoot back) could be a very popular alternative and a lot more fun, providing it was done professionally - and without paint! And so their journey into the then little known world of airsoft was not only embarked on, it was embraced by the whole family.