Airsoft Games: The Game Modes UK Sites Play

An airsoft game day is a run of short games between two teams, each with an objective. Of the 43 UK sites we checked, 20 name specific game modes. The most common are attack and defend, VIP escort and team deathmatch, at 9 sites each. Hit players respawn or wait for a medic, so you're rarely out for long.

This guide covers how a game day runs, the common airsoft games and what they involve, respawn and medic rules, and how much say you get in the game. Everything comes from the 43 sites' own websites, checked on 8 October 2026.

How an airsoft game day works

Players split into two teams and play a series of games through the day. Nine sites mention team armbands. Ultimate Wargames sets out a typical day: "Each game lasts 30 to 60 minutes, so during the day you will have 4-5 games, with breaks between the games to reload." Twelve sites mention a lunch break, between 12 and 1pm where they give a time.

You don't need to learn the games in advance. Eight sites say the marshals explain each game before it starts, and Tactical Delta puts it simply: "Marshals will explain each scenario before it begins." Seven say the games change from week to week. At Killzone Airsoft, "Games vary every week so you wont get bored of the same ones every week."

Tac House Spartan sums up a standard day: "Players are generally split into 2 teams and spend the event doing a mixture of games from Defend/Attack, Escort, Seek & Destroy etc." For the basics of a skirmish day, from arrival to the last game, see our guide to what airsoft is.

The most common airsoft game modes

Twenty of the 43 sites name at least one game mode. Another 14 only say they run "scenarios" or "objectives", and the rest say nothing about game types. Names differ from site to site, so the same game can turn up under two or three labels.

Attack and defend

One team holds a position and the other tries to take it. Nine sites name it, under labels from "Defend/Attack" to "Assault" and "The Raid". Players of War gives each side different rules: attackers play on tag rules and defenders respawn.

VIP and escort

One team moves a player or vehicle across the site, and the other tries to stop it. Nine sites name an escort game, two of them only in blog posts. Gunman Airsoft runs vehicle escorts, and at No Man's Land Airsoft the VIP can be a marshal.

Team deathmatch and elimination

The simplest game: knock out the other team. Nine sites name team deathmatch, elimination or last man standing. Biohazard Airsoft runs a weekly Tuesday night that is two hours of team deathmatch and nothing else.

Capture the flag

Capture the flag is the best-known game, but it's less common on public game days than you might expect. Seven sites name it. Only two mention flag games on their public game-day pages; the others offer it to private groups or parties, or name it in blog posts.

Domination and hold the point

Teams fight to take and hold one or more points on the site. Seven sites run a version, including Tactical Delta's "Conquest" and "Point Control". Killzone lists "Domination, Kill Confirmed, Search and Destroy, Multi-team Domination". Four sites run games with three or more teams.

Search and destroy

One team has to destroy a target, in some versions by planting a prop bomb, and the other has to stop them. Seven sites name it; Tac House calls it "Seek & Destroy".

Hostage rescue and intel retrieval

Rescue games, where a team breaks out a hostage, a downed pilot or a casualty, are named at seven sites. Six run retrieval games, where teams collect documents, sample canisters or other items. Gunman describes its range as "from simple objective retrieval to hostage rescue to vehicle escort".

Zombie and infection games

Six sites name zombie or infection games. Ace Combat lists "Zombie Survival" as a game mode, First & Only runs three-hour zombie survival days at select locations, and Biohazard ran a zombie Outbreak night in October 2026. Scorpion and HQ Airsoft offer infection games to private groups, and S51 describes one in a blog post. Our guide to airsoft vs paintball covers how zombie games work in both sports.

No site in the 43 names a sniper or stalker game.

Respawns, medics and bleed-out

Getting hit doesn't usually end your game. Twenty-two sites mention respawning. Twelve use fixed respawn points: Humber Airsoft says its "game area has over 15 respawn points so you are never too far away to respawn and get back into the game." Two use a distance instead; at Ultimate Wargames you "Withdraw from the skirmish 30 paces in the direction of your base camp/game start point and come back in."

Gunman explains why sites set it up this way: "we ensure that there is always a method to get back into the game reasonably quickly after being shot." Only Cotswold Airsoft states a respawn limit on its standing rules.

Ten sites mention medic rules for ordinary game days, and three more for events only. A team mate brings you back into play, either with a hand on you and a slow 10-second count (Fife Wargames, TeamGreen and Sixmil) or by tying a bandage on (Gunman). At three sites, if either player is shot during the medic, both are out.

If no medic reaches you, you bleed out and go back to respawn. Six sites state a bleed-out time, from 2 to 5 minutes. Where game days state one, it's 2-3 minutes; 5 minutes only appears at longer events. Players of War mixes the two systems: "Generally, the attacking team will be on tag rules and the defenders will be on respawn. YOU CAN ONLY TAG ONCE, THEN YOU MUST RESPAWN ON THE 2ND HIT and alternate thereafter (tag then respawn). If you awaiting a "medic" tag - there is a 3-minute bleed out period, after which you can respawn."

How to call a hit in the first place is covered in our guide to airsoft rules.

Grenades, props and story scenarios

Some games change the rules for grenades. Four sites treat a grenade hit differently from a BB hit: at Sixmil a grenade kill can't be medic'd, while Players of War counts anyone within five metres of the blast as hit. Three sites say they use pyro in current scenarios, and ten name game props such as prop bombs, flags, sample canisters and vehicles. The rules guide covers what pyro sites allow.

Ten sites give games a storyline. Sixmil names each game day's scenario about a week in advance. One recent day had teams "find and secure Ground Zero of the viral outbreak, retrieve valuable sample canisters, locate and hold the nearby chemical weapons lab, rescue the missing bio weapons scientists, and search for the initial response team that also went MIA after the outbreak."

Milsim and longer games

Seventeen of the 43 sites run milsim, battlesim or other long events. These run longer games than a skirmish day, some continuously through the day, and their rules can include limited respawns, stricter medic rules and a bleed-out of up to 5 minutes. OP-Tac draws the line: "A Battlesim keeps gameplay flowing with rolling objectives, while a Skirmish Day is usually shorter, simpler, and more stop-start." Our guide to CQB, woodland and milsim explains the formats in full.

Can you choose the game?

On a public game day, usually not. No site publishes a fixed list of which modes it will run on a given walk-on day. Nine publish a scenario or format for a specific date, and Sixmil is the only one that names every standing game day's scenario ahead of time.

Private groups get more say. Six sites let a group choose or shape the games. HQ Airsoft offers "Base-assault, infection, capture-the-flag, milsim or casual - we'll build game modes around your group. Your call." Our guide to airsoft parties and group bookings covers how private hire works.

Find a site

We don't filter sites by the games they run, so check a site's own pages, or ask, if a particular game matters to you. Browse airsoft fields by city, or search by postcode on the Airsoft Fields homepage.

Sources. All figures come from the websites of the 43 fields listed below, checked on 8 October 2026. Sites change their games often, so check directly before booking. The 43 lean towards organised, well-documented sites with a working website and a published power limit, so the counts aren't UK-wide rates. "Not stated" doesn't mean a site doesn't run a game. Modes named only in a site's blog posts are counted, but noted where it matters.

Ace Combat, AIM Airsoft Swindon, Airsoft Plantation, Alpha 55 Airsoft, Area 66, Battle Camp Activity Centre, Biohazard Airsoft, Black Ops Bristol, Blackout Airsoft Cornwall, Combat Action Games, Commando Force Airsoft, Cotswold Airsoft, CQB Arena, District 23, Dragons Lair Airsoft, Fife Wargames, First & Only Airsoft (The Vault), Frontier Airsoft, FRV Airsoft, Gunman Airsoft, HQ Airsoft, Humber Airsoft, Ironsight Airsoft, Killzone Airsoft, No Man's Land Airsoft, Northern Skirmishing Club (NSC), NTAC, OP-Tac, Players of War, Revolution Airsoft, S51 Airsoft, Scorpion Airsoft, Sixmil Airsoft, Skirmish Wycombe, South Coast CQB, Tac House Spartan, Tactical Delta, TeamGreen Airsoft, The Fort, The Killhouse, The Mill NI, The Siege Project, Ultimate Wargames