Whatever gear you decide to take you need to make sure it is packed correctly, so it makes to the field in piece and you can find it when you need to.

One big bag

Get yourself a great big holdall you should be able to get most of your gear tucked away nicely in that. Less bags you take means less runs to and from the car, and less chance of something going missing.

Divide and Conquer

Section your gear up within the holdall, dry sacks are great for this, so keep all your food and cooking gear together, Shooting kit like bbs and speed loads in one place and gloves, hats and shemaghs with wrapped up.

Where you expect to find it

As soon as you finish using something, clean it and put it away so it ready for next time. This is a really big deal, and will save you a right ball ache. This will also keep your pit nice and tidy. Once you give something a home that is where it stays, don't be tempted to move it to somewhere else, you will always look in the first home.

Playing Tetris

You should spend a little bit of time playing Tetris with all your gear to find the best way of fitting it all in. Consider what you need to get at first or most often. What will be out the bag the longest, and leave some space for the unexpected items.

Loose items

Please try really hard to avoid having loose items, such as the water you picked up on the way. Or the ASDA bags with your boots in. Get all this stuff stowed away in your hold all.

What to Aim for

You should aim to have no more than 3 items in total!

Example: Rifle Case, Holdall & Campbed.

This will make loading and unloading the cars a lot easier, and you will also find your gear and setup your pit a lot quicker and a lot less stressful.

Get Your Admin Sorted

Once you have got your pit setup, make sure everything is packed away what you're not using. Keep your doss bag folded away in dry sack at the top of your bed, so it can't get wet. This will also leave your bed clear for filling mags. Keep your stuff to yourself. Nobody wants to come back to their bed to find your stinky boots on them. With so many people going to this one, we all really need to make sure are gear is away properly and not spilling out all over the place.

This is one of the most important parts. You will not feel hungry but you need to eat anyway. You will not feel thirsty, but drink anyway. You may only get a short period to get some food in you, so you want to be able to get it unpacked and cooking ASAP. However rushed you are, make sure you clean your gear and put it away, you might be in a rush next time as well.

Water

You should never assume that there will be safe drinking water onsite, so aim to take at least 8 litres. I would recommend getting 2 litre bottles so there easier to pack and handle than the big 5 litre bottles.

The water will be used to Drink, Cook, Clean and Wash. So you do really need plenty of it.

Hydration

I always start drinking loads of water a couple of days before an event. Dehydration leads to head aches and muscle cramp which will seriously ruin your weekend. If you flow isn't clear or your just not going, you need to drink more! Lucazade sport is brilliant stuff, and you can get a lot of own brands now. Don't be tempted to take red bull or any other caffeinated drinks, these will kill you dead.

Food

Aim for something that is easy to cook, and can be eaten with a spork. You want fast warm food, nothing more. Tins of Ravioli are great, but make sure you can open the tin.

British Army Rat packs are brilliant if you can get them. The foods ok (I wouldn't eat it at home). Easy to cook and eat right out the pack, so you only need to clean your spork after!

You also get sweet, biscuits & chocolate. As well as Tea, coffee and hot chocolate. There is more than enough to keep you going for 24 hours, so all you need is water and stove job done.

Meals times

• Friday lunch - on route to the event
• Friday dinner - at the event, before game on
• Saturday breakfast - at the event, before game on, make it a big one, and as later on as possible.
• Dinner stand down - Get your main meal down you, and your desert this will need to keep you going until your get some sleep.
• Sleep stand down - Before you get your head down make yourself a hot chocy, then clean all your gear and get your cook kit ready to make breaky
• breakfast - After you've been woken up (normally by BFG) get your breaky cooking and get your gear on.
• Upto Endex - Snack you way to end ex, and hit a MacD on the way home.

Alcohol

Following Barons rule, alcohol on the Friday night should be limited to 4 cans of beer and a small amount of whiskey. After putting all that work in to make sure your hydrated you don't to blow it with a hangover. Make sure you get some water down you before you sleep. Make sure you get it packed with in your holdall, so you do not have to carry ASDA bags as well as all your gear.

As well as making sure you have a decent night's kip on the Friday ahead of the game, getting it right on this will give you a massive boast which will push you through to the end of the game. This will also be crucial for the people driving you home after the game. Having the right kit to sleep on will mean you can settle down quickly and get a much needed break, if only for a couple of hours.

Doss Bags

This is mostly down to preference, but remember to its better to get a sleeping bag that will be to hot rather than to cold. You should also consider the size it packs down to.

It sounds daft, but make sure it fits, people have turned up with child sized sleeping bags. Try and keep it in a dry sack when not in use to ensure its clean and dry when you come to use it.

Camp beds

Roll mats offer no comfort, so camp beds are essential. Rolls mats are purely to insulate from a cold floor.

A small camp bed can be bought for under a tenner, and will give you a comfortable night sleep. Although they can be a pain the ass to build they do pack down very small and are very light weight.

Big folding camp beds are very comfortable, on a level with crashing on a sofa. They setup quickly, but are big and heavy to transport. They cost around £20 mark. These are highly recommended as they give you a nice bench to fill your mags, and plenty of room under to stash your gear.

If it is extremely cold you way wish to line your camp bed with a roll mat, but you will sacrifice a large amount gear space taking both.

Heatpacks

Disposable hand warmers are little bit of luxury, crack it open, give it a shake and throw it your doss bag about 30 mins before you jump in.

Ear Plugs

You are guaranteed when you are trying to get some sleep there will be a unit next to you gearing up, and firing RIF's. Ear plugs wont block it all out, but will help you on the way. And worst still if you on the same stand down as Graham.

This is always a tough one in the field, but do what you can when you get chance.

At the end of the game, a couple baby wipes to get that man makeup off, brush your teeth and a squirt of linx makes you feel like a million dollas, well not quite.

There is no guarantees on what lighting will be available, which is another great reason to keep your gear in order! We may only have lights we bring with us. So make sure yours is charged and ready.

Personal Light

Those little headlights are great, stick it in your pocket before you set off to the event in case its dark when you get there. These don't have to be very bright, just enough for you to get round. Try and get one with a red led option, this will be good for when you are on stand down. It's also worth keeping this on you during the game so you don't have to use your tac light to get around.

Area Lamp

Wind up lamps are ok, but try and charge them off mains power before you go. Rechargeable are even better. This one you want to be as bright as possible!

Tac Lights

If you don't have a tac light you won't be able to fight when it gets dark! Avoid LED and aim for 80 lumens or more.

This part is what it's all about, so check, check and recheck. You don't want your pride and joy to go down when you need it the most.

Batteries & Charging

Make sure you batteries are fully charged before the event, and double check, then charge them again anyway. Do not assume there will be charging facilities! So take enough batteries to last you the weekend, and make sure they are charged in advance!!

Rifles

Please don't be tempted to take every RIF you own, take one or two at most. If you take lots of different rifles you will be running back to you kit to change it every 5 mins. Whatever you take it should be reliable.

Tac Lights

Get a tac light on rifle. Try and avoid LEDs and aim for about 80 lumens. For fighting at night in large numbers there is nothing better. It keeps it real simple. Stick some new batteries in so it will be as bright as possible, and last you the whole night.

Mags

Midcaps only at this event, and limited to 600 rounds. So I keep it simple, 6 x 130rnd mid caps, with a speedloader full in each. If you fill them to the max, the bbs double stack and can jam.

If you bring a spare RIF, try and bring that will use the same mags, so you don't have to mess around swopping those as well.

You only needs to set of clothes for whole weekend. This should include some trainers as well!

Civi Gear

Travel down in your civi gear, and spend all Friday night in it. When you go to bed get your combat gear out, and put your civi gear into a dry sack.

At the end of the game, stick you civi gear on and you feel a million times better. Especially taking those boots off!

Combat Gear

Check and double check you have got everything. Your boots are really important, so if you get a new pair, wear them in as much as possible.

Be sure your gear is clean and dry before you pack it.

Effective use of comms gear will mean the difference between winning and losing. If you can communicate with command, command can make sure you get plenty of action.

8 Channel PMR

If you radio is only capable using 8 channels, you will be blocking a whole frequency range every time you use it. The range and quality is also extremely limited.

446 Channel PMR

These are the radios the do a main channel 1 to 8 and a sub channel 1-36, these can be used but you will only get a limited range. You may find you can receive from the bigger radios but only transmit a short distance.

Motorola XTNs

This is really the minimum level, these will work with all the PMR 446 radios, and will have a better range for both transmit and receive. XTNs use 0.5 Watts of power, which is the highest of any pmr446 radios.

Motorola GP68s

These are the daddy of the radios, they do require programming but will work with the PMR446s. These have 4 watts of power, so the range will cover a massive are with crystal clear quality. PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE ILLEGAL UNLESS TRANSMITTING ON LICENSED FREQUENCIES AND IF USED ON PMR WILL DISRUPT OTHER PLAYERS.

Headsets

What ever radio kit you use, get at least an ear piece for it, so the enemy can't hear everything what's going on. You can get a simple D shaped ear piece for under a fiver. Throat mics aren't great because they transmit very quietly and tend to slip alot. Bowmans / Clansman sets are by far the best, but you feel like a tool wearing it, and can be a little more expensive.