It’s the end of the first office week of a new month, and all too fast we’re approaching “Q4” of 2024 and the airsoft goodness just keeps on rolling in!

We’re early in for our usual “Something For The Weekend” post this week; as those who have followed us for some time (THANK YOU!) will know around this time of the year we shut down AAHQ for our annual server maintenance and platform upgrades (and staff vacations!); we’ll be “going dark” from close of play today until Monday 23 September.

However, when we return there’s a LOT to look forward to; games to be played, MOA and the national Airsoft Fair in Portugal, more new AEGs and GBBs, and prep for some of us for the winter months… lots to talk and write about in Q4 of this year, that’s for certain!

And the members of the AA LEGION continue to be as busy as always, and Stewbacca kicked things off by telling us “the main command element of Team TaiJi and I are off to the PengHu islands in the middle of the Taiwan Strait for a pretty awesome sounding MilSim at an old defensive fort installation there on the western reaches of the island, hopefully the weather will behave as there’s a Typhoon just dodging the bottom of Taiwan but it might still bring in the rains on us. It’ll be a stupid early start on Friday for us to drive halfway down the country for the port we’re taking the ferry from, but it’ll be a good adventure to share in an upcoming issue, no doubt… “We’re going to… The Island”!

As for the following weekends we haven’t set a site for the next one as yet but I’ll no doubt be finding an excuse to field the new VFC M16A2 I just took possession of for review, and then I have another CivDef training course to help do the teaching and armourer duties for, I’ve already seen great leaps forward from some of my students which really makes it all the more rewarding, many of them have already bought their own guns and plan to get more practice at home as well.”

Miguel told us “We are preparing our upcoming “Admission Course”. It’s a process that we start every two years for bringing new players to the team. That means that during the upcoming weeks we are hosting small practices/games where we welcome independent players who are interested in joining us, before the process begins. This way we can help clear out any questions, help with gear, and any important aspect to help them decide if this is what they want!”

Dan said: “OP Pegasus XV is this upcoming weekend! And it looks like it is on track to be a record-breaking scorcher too, so I’m pounding water ahead of time to ensure I’m adequately hydrated. Ahead of that event, I need to do the final tune on an Ares Striker HPA build, then hammer out the MK12 ERG project so I can pass both of those off to their new owners. My PKM’s hopup issue is all sorted now too. That turned out to be a failure of the Retro Arms hop up clip, so the inner barrel and bucking were shifted out of place. Fortunately I had some of the new generation A&K clips on hand, which are much more secure than the Retro Arms and older A&K clips. She’s purring beautifully now!

The following weekend is our 13 year anniversary, so I will be tabling any and all airsoft-related activities that weekend. “Happy wife, happy life” as they say!”

And Bill updated everyone to say that “I’ve been head down the last couple of weeks getting ISSUE 166 together early due to the office shutdown, and THAT is ALL ready to roll for the 15th! I’ve also been getting some lovely summer evening rangetime in with a whole host of AEG and GBB platforms which has been a real delight; Ben and I both agree that the new GHM-9 MKII is a real little beast, and I believe that both of us will be ordering in one of those! I’ve also been re-shooting my ICS MK18 and VORSK pistol collection over the past month, and it’s a delight to go back and revisit them all… I may just have to write them up as a RELOADED in the future!

The AA Crew and I have a LOT to get on with and look forward to, and I’m pleased that our first direct recruit in the USA, Matt, will be joining Dan soon to provide even more coverage of US events! I’m also massively looking forward to heading to Portugal in November with Jase to support Miguel and our Portuguese friends for their first national AIRSOFT FAIR!

In the meantime it will be business as usual at AA, and I’m really looking forward to the Crew and I being able to continue to showcase the very best that airsoft has to offer…. and Ben and Jimmy are taking me to a game locally next month, my first skirmish proper since finishing my cancer treatment… and we have some ideas for that too which we’ll report on in due course!”

So, that’s it from us this week, and indeed for a couple of weeks! We’ll be back in the office on the 23rd to catch you up on “AA Adventures”, but for now we’ll sign off as always, wish you all the best, and for those playing over the next fortnight…  Play hard, Play safe, and above all, Play with Honour!