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Desert
Rat
24 Hour Paintball Scenario Produced by Wayne Dollack and Southwest Paintball ~ Surprise, AZ ~ 4/6-7/02 |
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Where a good time was had by about 99.95% - myself included ]
It reminded me of a sign outside a little town: Welcome to Paradise. Pop.: 199 Happy Folks and 1 Sorehead What
can I say? My first time in an event this big, this organized, and this
cool. It was wild. Around 200 people shooting at each other with
red Zap paint...it looked like a Cherry Festival with all the flying
paint, and the bouncing ones, and the ones that didn't break, all over
the ground, everywhere. Those Zap balls even LOOKED like cherries, where
the stem had been broken off, it was dimpled. Not the best, but the
good part was, you didn't get 'hit' or out so much, they didn't break.
On retrospect, that was sorta cool, but unintentional, I'm sure. I must
have taken at least a hundred hits, maybe more, but I was only really
'out' a few times, and I have absolutely no marks.
I got in my share of hits, too. It was an advantage being tall at times, shooting over the mesh, or being able to see a bit further in the towers. A disadvantage at the TeePee I tried using as cover once, they get narrower at the top. My puny Piranha marker did alright, but I doubt it will see another day of play. After I had to replace the original hammer and sear after only about 4 cases of paint, I again find that I'm developing the same symptoms as before, only through just one case of paint now. I personally won't buy anything Piranha again. The majority of the guns there were Tipmans with and without the Flatline kit, and a lot of Autocockers. heh. Pricey, those things, too. And ultra cool Nitrogen systems, backpacks, I was fairly intimidated at first, as was Terry, after he found out he was playing with the teams he reads about. I think we both got over it once we got a few hits. And we surely learned some things. The kind of places we play here will never be the same, the open forest stuff. Ah, ... innocence lost. The Theme was based on the Desert Rat campaign with the British against the Germans. I couldn't believe how many people actually had a good historic knowledge of that period, btw. Myself NOT included. I just had a blast as a German Corporal in the Afikakorps, Panzerguppe Afrika, 90th Light Division, 3rd Reconnaisance Detachment, 2nd Company, 4th Platoon, MOS Commando. whew. Glad I had a card for that in my pocket. Spy check and all. We played on about 40 acres divided into different sub themes, such as Apache Village, Tumbleweed, Camelot (castle), Area 51, Pirate's Cove, and Sniper Island. Naturally, each team's Headquarters was at extreme opposite areas. Each team had separate platoons that were each assigned various missions throughout the game. Referees were all around for immediate decisions in play, and points were awarded on the degree of success of each mission. A LOT of thought and planning must be done for an event like this, and I think Wayne and John and all the support people did a superb job all around. We had 'dogtags', sort of. Laminates with team number that was punched for chrono certification 3 times. There was a camping area the size of Texas outside the grounds, and lots of tents, campers and trucks. Terry and I, each at 6', 'slept' in the front seat of the little Honda Civic in the first pic. All the gear was in the back because it was threatening rain, so the seats wouldn't go back to a reclining position. Although the game is called a 24 hour game, it really depends on how many wish to actually play. Our conditions were cloudy, sprinkles, and we called the game at 12:30am. To 6:30am. Roughing it, truly. Morning play resumed about 8am, until the game ended at 12:30. It
was close. In fact, Wayne said it was the closest match they've ever
had in 17 years of doing this. The English won with 3050 points, the
Germans lost with 3000 points. After the game, the closing ceremonies,
the awards for best of things, and the drawing for all the cool stuff,
like ball vests, electric hoppers, electric guns... and some barrel
plugs that they threw out... heh. well, I got a couple of those anyway...plus
the one I had to buy to get in the compound... forgot about that, this
was my first 'official' event, and I'd left mine at home. All in all,
I'm very glad I did this. I don't think I can remember ever being as
tired as I was at the end of the game, that night and all the next day,
but that bed o' mine sure was a welcome sight !!
Here's a few pictures I actually took before I started playing. They do no justice to the size of the event, as I couldn't really get any shots on the field during play... 'cuz I was playin'. I believe there are a few more pictures of John's field at his website . Also, if you're interested in playing in one of these, check out Wayne's World of Paintball for a schedule of upcoming meets. Just too cool, is all I can say. |
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The
Entrance, Terry, and Our
Travel/Sleeping Arrangements |
Staging Area
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Terry
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 Registration/Paintballs |
Staging Area
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Chowline Girls
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Sin
Sity Raiders Team |
Sin Sity Raiders
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Chowline
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Group |
Group
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Group
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Radar
- German General Dink - English General |
Wayne Explaining Rules
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Wayne,
Radar, and Group
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Night
Play was quite difficult to me. Our little home guys here talked of
having a little one, as there aren't many of us. Actually doing it was
far different than I expected. It was cloudy, sprinkling, and the only
light was from the compound. I lasted for about 2 1/2 hours, until around
10:30pm, before I gave it up. I saw only two other people, as I made
my way to the edges of the boundaries, shot at them, and found out the
next day it was people from my own team who had taken the tower. All
I saw were shadows leaving the enemy area. I can see the use for night
vision. Someone on each team at HQ had some, but, go figure, our team's
batteries went dead as soon as we used them. We won the evening, I believe. |
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Terry |
Getting Ready
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Typical Mercenary Type
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Bazooka/Rocket? |
6 Gun Battle Wagon
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Battle Wagon Front
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Sin Sity Guys around Tank |
Turret and Machine Gun
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Tank Getting a Charge
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Chrono Range
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My
Raggedy Tired Self
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Tumbleweed
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Camelot
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Refilling Station
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Sundown
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Unfortunately,
there are no ending pictures, as I was pretty exhausted
and pictures were the last thing on my mind, facing a 7 hour drive home.
A
HUGE THANKS to Dennis, the Mrs., and the Lieutenant of the Smoking Guns Team
(4th Platoon, Germans) for
inviting me to play as one of their team because of a no-show/pre-register.
They felt sorry for me sitting there just
taking pictures of everyone and my son, ...and as I look back, YES, I was feeling
a bit 'left out'... Didn't know it showed
so much. heh....You folks are pretty cool. I appreciate it to the MAX!