Paintball Day
This weekend I went along on a Rangers campout with my dad and little brother. The campout was intended mostly as a merit work day but they planned to play a bit of paintball so I tagged along.
We were trying out a new site, a 22 acre lot owned by a developer who attends our church. The owner of the property let us use his very nice land for free. Thanks Mr. G!
Friday, I got Dad picked me up from work early. He had already packed most of our gear so it didn't take us long to pack up the few remaining items and get going.
That afternoon we set up the camp and scouted the area a bit. After all of our campers arrived, we made tin foil dinners, a simple but tasty meal (at least if you season it right). That evening the boys worked their way through the First Aid Skills merit.
Unfortunately the ground was a bit bumpy and the night was cold. In my rush out the door I forgot to bring proper sleeping gear so my I didn't get the best rest but that's the way things go sometime.
The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and the boys burned their way through the Firecraft merit (Sorry about the bad pun, I'm currently out of good ones.). Then, finally, my patience was rewarded and we got to paintball.
I LOVE paintball. I love the mix of strategy and physical exertion. The tactics and skills involved are fun to learn and I love the reward of success... a nice string of welts on an opponent. At the same time, paintball hurts just enough that it gives an incentive to avoid being hit. The pain gives the game an element of risk which compounds the fun.
WARNING: The rest of this post contains graphic descriptions of paintball violence. I will be recounting my latest "war stories". If you hate fish stories, scar stories etc. you will probably want to skip over most of this.
We were playing, 2-hits-out, team elimination, woods ball. We had 8-9 guys playing each round. Here's my account for the day:
Rounds: 5
Frags: 5-7
Deaths: 1-3
Wins: 2
Losses: 3
Round 1:
Since there were eight people playing we devided into 4 vs. 4 teams. The two most experienced players were appointed as captains and we took turns picking players. The teams came out very even.
My team was send into the field first. I set my guys up along hillock in a clump of trees. The ground was relatively open and I knew that the opposing team would have to hunker down along a parrallel rise to exchange long range fire or face a hopless run across the open ground.
Sure enough, the attackers formed up along the ridge, right where they were expected. Once we were solidly engaged I broke off from my team and headed off parrallel to the line of battle. Once I felt that I had cleared the end of the enemy formation I attempted a flank.
Unfortunately, I had misjudged their positions and I came under fire as I attempted to cross the open area. I was able to get into cover in the middle of the no-man's-land and waited for circumstances to change.
It didn't take long. When the guy opened fire on me he revealed his postion to the main body of my team and he came under fire from one of my team mates. I was temporarily ignored and I used the opportunity to dart across the remainder of the open ground into a clump of trees directly to the side of my assailant. He was caught in a crossfire and I quickly eliminated him. I then moved into his position. From there I began working my way along the rise hoping to catch the rest of the team by surprise.
Meanwhile, unknown to me the enemy team lost two guys to long range fire. I came upon their final guy blazing away at my team across the field. I crept up on him from the side-rear and when I got close I opened up. My gun spit out two balls and jammed.
I was using old, low quality paint and my first shots went wild. There I was charging an enemy with an high ROF gun and I was effectively disarmed. Not knowing what else to do I charged.
He was on his knees and somehow, I managed to avoid his flurry of fire and run behind him. I pressed my barrel into his back and demanded that he surrender. Not realizing that I couldn't shoot him and not wanting to be shot from literally point blank he complied.
Fortunately for me, the hill we were on was in full view of the camp and the "out zone" so everyone got to see my move. I got to pull off a gutsy, slick move in front of everyone. My ego probably didn't need that expansion.
I was intending to document all five rounds but you're probably all bored stiff and it's almost 2300. I need to get to bed.
Oh, one last thing the reason my stats are shown as ranges is that we had a few young guys who were making sub-standard ethical judgments when it came to admitting when they were out. Dishonesty mucks up scoring.
We were trying out a new site, a 22 acre lot owned by a developer who attends our church. The owner of the property let us use his very nice land for free. Thanks Mr. G!
Friday, I got Dad picked me up from work early. He had already packed most of our gear so it didn't take us long to pack up the few remaining items and get going.
That afternoon we set up the camp and scouted the area a bit. After all of our campers arrived, we made tin foil dinners, a simple but tasty meal (at least if you season it right). That evening the boys worked their way through the First Aid Skills merit.
Unfortunately the ground was a bit bumpy and the night was cold. In my rush out the door I forgot to bring proper sleeping gear so my I didn't get the best rest but that's the way things go sometime.
The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and the boys burned their way through the Firecraft merit (Sorry about the bad pun, I'm currently out of good ones.). Then, finally, my patience was rewarded and we got to paintball.
I LOVE paintball. I love the mix of strategy and physical exertion. The tactics and skills involved are fun to learn and I love the reward of success... a nice string of welts on an opponent. At the same time, paintball hurts just enough that it gives an incentive to avoid being hit. The pain gives the game an element of risk which compounds the fun.
WARNING: The rest of this post contains graphic descriptions of paintball violence. I will be recounting my latest "war stories". If you hate fish stories, scar stories etc. you will probably want to skip over most of this.
We were playing, 2-hits-out, team elimination, woods ball. We had 8-9 guys playing each round. Here's my account for the day:
Rounds: 5
Frags: 5-7
Deaths: 1-3
Wins: 2
Losses: 3
Round 1:
Since there were eight people playing we devided into 4 vs. 4 teams. The two most experienced players were appointed as captains and we took turns picking players. The teams came out very even.
My team was send into the field first. I set my guys up along hillock in a clump of trees. The ground was relatively open and I knew that the opposing team would have to hunker down along a parrallel rise to exchange long range fire or face a hopless run across the open ground.
Sure enough, the attackers formed up along the ridge, right where they were expected. Once we were solidly engaged I broke off from my team and headed off parrallel to the line of battle. Once I felt that I had cleared the end of the enemy formation I attempted a flank.
Unfortunately, I had misjudged their positions and I came under fire as I attempted to cross the open area. I was able to get into cover in the middle of the no-man's-land and waited for circumstances to change.
It didn't take long. When the guy opened fire on me he revealed his postion to the main body of my team and he came under fire from one of my team mates. I was temporarily ignored and I used the opportunity to dart across the remainder of the open ground into a clump of trees directly to the side of my assailant. He was caught in a crossfire and I quickly eliminated him. I then moved into his position. From there I began working my way along the rise hoping to catch the rest of the team by surprise.
Meanwhile, unknown to me the enemy team lost two guys to long range fire. I came upon their final guy blazing away at my team across the field. I crept up on him from the side-rear and when I got close I opened up. My gun spit out two balls and jammed.
I was using old, low quality paint and my first shots went wild. There I was charging an enemy with an high ROF gun and I was effectively disarmed. Not knowing what else to do I charged.
He was on his knees and somehow, I managed to avoid his flurry of fire and run behind him. I pressed my barrel into his back and demanded that he surrender. Not realizing that I couldn't shoot him and not wanting to be shot from literally point blank he complied.
Fortunately for me, the hill we were on was in full view of the camp and the "out zone" so everyone got to see my move. I got to pull off a gutsy, slick move in front of everyone. My ego probably didn't need that expansion.
I was intending to document all five rounds but you're probably all bored stiff and it's almost 2300. I need to get to bed.
Oh, one last thing the reason my stats are shown as ranges is that we had a few young guys who were making sub-standard ethical judgments when it came to admitting when they were out. Dishonesty mucks up scoring.
2 Comments:
Sounds like my dream adventure, except for the pain.
You've been tagged.
Paintballing sounds like a blast! My son and husband have done it, but the only thing close that I have tried is lazer tag - and no where near what you described!
Sounds like a great adventure and fun memory to have with your dad and brother - thanks for sharing!!
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