Hi friends!
Welcome back to the blog! If you’ve been following my Texas adventure on my socials you’ll have seen that I visited the new Evike Outpost Houston at High Ground Airsoft and whilst I was there, I got to play a little more American CQB.
High Ground Airsoft is now located in Cypress, Texas, after outgrowing its Spring location. The site now exists in what was previously a Walmart and as such, it has a large car park. As you walk up to the doors of HGA you’ll notice right now it doesn’t have a lot of signage but this will be added shortly. As you go through the sliding doors, the aircon hits you like a train making it a welcome retreat from the Texan heat. There are then two doors - one that leads to the new Evike Outpost storefront (I’ll be doing a review of this soon) but it is fully stocked with airsoft and tactical gear and when I say fully stocked, I mean FULLY. The walls are lined with AEGs, GBBRs and bolt action rifles. The shelves and racks are well stocked with tactical gear such as plate carriers, chest rigs and even BDUs. They of course also stock all the game day essentials such as BBs, gas etc.
The other door leads to the players' lounge, on the way through, there are men's and women's toilets - they also have a disabled toilet and a family bathroom. The sign-in desk is just before the player's lounge and is always staffed by a friendly face. Here you can pay for your arena entry (although you do get a discount if you pre-book online!) And you can also pick up your Skirmesh band - more on this later. The player's lounge has plenty of tables and chairs for airsofters to prep their gear and get ready for the day. It’s air-conditioned so even in the Texas heat it’s a comfortable place to set up. There are 2 party rooms (also airconditioned). The players' lounge also has a full snack bar that sells candy, drinks and even hot food, which I was pretty impressed with! The hot food includes hot dogs, pizza and my favourite, hot wings! A new addition to this location is also a bar! As they’d only just opened when I visited this was still being set up but it will be completed soon.
Now to get an idea of size - the size of the player's lounge and bar is 6,000 sq ft and the play floor is 25,000 sq feet which includes two full-size two-story buildings. By far one of the most notable buildings is the Alamo which is located in the very centre of the play floor with two elevated towers inside. One of my personal favourites was the arcade room which had a load of old, battered arcade machines to fight around.
All players are given a comprehensive safety brief explaining the rules and regulations of the site before they enter the arena to ensure safe gameplay. The brief covers everything from Chrono limits, what do to when you get hit, emergencies, pyrotechnics and MEDs. One of the things I dislike most about American sites is the MED and bang rules - in the UK we don’t have MEDs and we don’t operate a bang-bang rule so going to a site that implements a MED of if you can reach out and touch them with a rifle you’re too close but otherwise crack on is a breath of fresh air.
The games played include a variety of deathmatches and objective-based games - most of which are just 7 minutes long which means the games are fast-paced and keep players on their toes. The arena can handle 40 on 40 play but usually, they run at 20 v 20 games which means the play is fast but not overwhelming. The entire field is set up with the Skirmesh.net system for prop interaction and stat tracking - each player is given a rubberised wristband that they can scan in respawns to track their in-game ‘deaths’ or in objective areas so points can be collected for areas held or for the time held. There are live video feeds of the play floor in both party rooms and the bar along with Skirmesh live game tracking so spectators can watch the action. There is also a projector in the player's lounge with live game tracking and updates.
The site itself plays well and isn’t geared towards speedsofters which is pleasantly refreshing. It is a mix of different-sized rooms and open spaces with cover which makes it a varied site to play.
The Marshalls are a really friendly bunch who do a great job of keeping the games running smoothly and on time. They were super helpful during my visit and nothing was too much trouble - which I greatly appreciated.
I have always said that HGA is one of my favourite places to play in the States and their new location is no different! The facilities are spot on, from the hot snack bar, to the safe zone and the toilets all make a difference during a gameday! The site itself is fun to play and is varied with tonnes of different game modes to keep the gameplay interesting and players on their toes. I really enjoyed my time at HGA and I would like to extend a huge thank you to the staff and players who made me feel so welcome!
Check out their website here
Check out their Instagram here
Photos thanks to The Airsoft Correspondent
Post sponsored by High Ground Airsoft
Originally posted Monday 8 August 2022
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