paintball virgin no more
Yesterday, after getting getting to bed (actually not true, I fell asleep on the couch) around 4am Friday night/Saturday morning, I managed to drag myself into some state of readiness for my first paintball experience. David, Sujoy, Jeff, and I joined David's dad, brother Richard, sister Jennifer, Jennifer's boyfriend Tom, and Richard's friend Anthony for six and a half hours of paintball. If they had told me ahead of time that we were going to be playing for six and a half hours at the outset, I probably would've keeled over right then and there. As it was, it still took me three games to get the feel for how the two different courses were laid out and how different players liked to play.
It was either the fourth or fifth game where I really hit my stride. David, Jeff, and I took the right flank going uphill on the high ground side of the course. To paint a better mental picture, this was in the woods with barriers made of plywood and large wooden spools. The terrain sloped relatively steeply down to our left and sloped slight up if front of us, making the front right part of the course the highest point. After our initial breakout, the three of us stopped in a barrier made from a plywood sheet. I took the right side, and David and Jeff took the left side to fire into the center of the course. We were pinned down for a few minutes by fire from our left and straight ahead. My first kill came when Anthony tried to peek out to fire on our position and I caught him with a lucky paintball. It's worth remembering that almost all shots are lucky shots since they don't go anywhere near straight; in fact, most of mine curved to the left. With Anthony gone, this left only fire from our left side to worry about - so with cover fire from David and Jeff, I was able to scramble to the next barrier, about 7 yards away. From this next barrier, I was able to lay flat around the plywood wall and pick people off from the side. Richard made the unfortunate mistake of wearing bright green scrub pants, so he caught a paintball in the backside. Two other guys I didn't know ventured forth after Richard was taken out and they, too were taken out in rapid succession from my position. Out of seven players on their team, I managed to knock out four - my best game for the day in terms of actually shooting people.
I also had a couple good suicide runs on the castle course, the second course we played on during the day. The castle course has one high side in the thicker woods with a big trench halfway down the hill. The low side has a large plywood "castle" fronted by a small creek and lots of brambles. David and I were on the left flank of the low side behind a plywood barrier with fire being poured in on us from the trench above. We were able to get one guy out who tried to flank us to our left, but there were still at least three people in the trench with their eyes on us. I was getting tired of the situation, since David and I were just sitting there not doing anything useful. Jeff and Sujoy were able to draw some fire, so I felt the time was right to try something stupid. I asked David to lay down some cover fire to our right as I ran around to the left. As I slid into the trench on the hill I managed to pop two of their guys in the trench before I got hit on the shoulder. With that their trench line was broken and David, Jeff, and Sujoy were able to hunt the rest of their team down up on the hill.
In my other favorite "suicide run", I didn't actually shoot anyone. David, Richard, Sujoy and I all rushed up the left flank following the same route I did in my suicide run from the previous paragraph. We only stopped for a little cover and potshots along the way, and ran straight up into the trench catching them completely by surprise and forcing them to surrender. It was probably the shortest game ever - lasting a max of three minutes from start to finish.
It was either the fourth or fifth game where I really hit my stride. David, Jeff, and I took the right flank going uphill on the high ground side of the course. To paint a better mental picture, this was in the woods with barriers made of plywood and large wooden spools. The terrain sloped relatively steeply down to our left and sloped slight up if front of us, making the front right part of the course the highest point. After our initial breakout, the three of us stopped in a barrier made from a plywood sheet. I took the right side, and David and Jeff took the left side to fire into the center of the course. We were pinned down for a few minutes by fire from our left and straight ahead. My first kill came when Anthony tried to peek out to fire on our position and I caught him with a lucky paintball. It's worth remembering that almost all shots are lucky shots since they don't go anywhere near straight; in fact, most of mine curved to the left. With Anthony gone, this left only fire from our left side to worry about - so with cover fire from David and Jeff, I was able to scramble to the next barrier, about 7 yards away. From this next barrier, I was able to lay flat around the plywood wall and pick people off from the side. Richard made the unfortunate mistake of wearing bright green scrub pants, so he caught a paintball in the backside. Two other guys I didn't know ventured forth after Richard was taken out and they, too were taken out in rapid succession from my position. Out of seven players on their team, I managed to knock out four - my best game for the day in terms of actually shooting people.
I also had a couple good suicide runs on the castle course, the second course we played on during the day. The castle course has one high side in the thicker woods with a big trench halfway down the hill. The low side has a large plywood "castle" fronted by a small creek and lots of brambles. David and I were on the left flank of the low side behind a plywood barrier with fire being poured in on us from the trench above. We were able to get one guy out who tried to flank us to our left, but there were still at least three people in the trench with their eyes on us. I was getting tired of the situation, since David and I were just sitting there not doing anything useful. Jeff and Sujoy were able to draw some fire, so I felt the time was right to try something stupid. I asked David to lay down some cover fire to our right as I ran around to the left. As I slid into the trench on the hill I managed to pop two of their guys in the trench before I got hit on the shoulder. With that their trench line was broken and David, Jeff, and Sujoy were able to hunt the rest of their team down up on the hill.
In my other favorite "suicide run", I didn't actually shoot anyone. David, Richard, Sujoy and I all rushed up the left flank following the same route I did in my suicide run from the previous paragraph. We only stopped for a little cover and potshots along the way, and ran straight up into the trench catching them completely by surprise and forcing them to surrender. It was probably the shortest game ever - lasting a max of three minutes from start to finish.