NJ Nam '07

So the problem with waiting so long after the game to write the summary / review is that the details of the game begin to be forgotten. The Brigade play log has had my kill & death numbers posted for some time now. I usually start the write-up there and then spruce up the format and embellish when it moves here. The problem is that the Play Log composer times out if you take to long writing your entry. I timed out twice after a lengthy bit of writing and lost the will to write t over again. When I compose locally on word it just seems like forever before I get a chance to finally upload. That’s enough excuses…

Regarding this game, one thing is certain, there was certainly a lot of hype and there was much anticipation. I believe the rule about letting the hype get so stratospheric is that you HAVE to deliver. Much of the hype was centered around, what I’d call game accoutrements, non of which I’d signed up for and of which I was a little skeptical how they were going to be incorporated and effect the gameplay. The thing I did know was that I wanted to be there to see how things would play out. I had heard good things about Pyro Production’s games and this was to be my first time to one of their games.

The field (Accurate Paintball) is adjacent to an active but small municipal airport that is home to a popular Skydiving School. Spots were being reserved for skydiving insertions, helicopter insertions and plane runway insertions. I had done a tandem jump before and was not really interested in doing one with paintball equipment or wasting my paintball time with the logistics of being involved in a mock airborne insertion or heli drop, especially if it wasn’t really going to help our cause in the gameplay. Therefore, I was not disappointed when the helicopter broke down and could not make it. Nor was I disappointed when, for whatever reason, there weren’t any air jumps or plane insertions. (From what I understand there were several ‘ballers who did some tandem skydiving but it was not in an insertion scenario.)

Evidenced by the reaction on various forums, a number of players were disappointed that Pyro delivered less than was advertised during all the pre-game hype. Personally, I could only give the weekend a couple of negatives. One was that the vegetation was on the dense side for my tastes with copious servings of holly bushes, thorny vines and various prickers. The other negative was that it was extremely hot especially on Saturday (more on that in a bit). From what I understand, the brush had been cut back and grown back quicker than expected and the weather is, well…, the weather.

On Saturday there was one group of kills that I particularly enjoyed (insert evil grin and evil “muah ha ha ha” laugh). Encountering a head on battle occurring down a narrow pathway, a fellow teammate and I slipped into the brush to the left of the firefight. We crawled, pushed and squeezed our way into position. My teammate was about 20 yards ahead of me as we positioned at the edge of the trail where all the fighting was happening. As I was coming into position I could see opfor trying to advance through the brush on the opposite side of the trail. I found a shady spot next to a tree with some low-lying foliage. The opfor’s path through the brush must’ve had 2 natural and irresistible stopping points because one after another opfor filed into positions that also happened to correspond with a small but clear firing lane from my position. I racked seven kills (+7) before the escalating firefight my teammate found himself in started drawing my attention. He had found himself ON the path that was the main firing lane between our and the opposing force. I could only imagine that the woods were becoming too hot and he pushed to the path to meet the oncoming opfor.

The situation meant I could no longer enjoy increasing my elimination ratio from my concealed position. Besides, my teammate looked like he could use some support as he was out in the open at the edge of the path sending ropes of paint towards an advancing opfor. As I busted out of the brush and fast-walked my way toward the opfor, I heard my teammate call himself out. I skirted the opposite side of the path to shield myself from the bulk of the incoming paint, while three members of the opposing force ducked for cover behind a wooden structure. One of the three didn’t move quick enough. (+8) As the remaining two tried to conceal themselves, I rushed the structure knowing one or both of them would probably peek out trying to find me to. Sure enough, a mask and hopper pop out and they realized they’re losing cover with my advance. (+9) I could see +10 pop out behind the person I’ve just eliminated but, between the two of us, I’m not sure who was hit first. As I walk off, +9 and my teammate with whom I had crawled through the bush with, exchange comments on how nicely that was played. It’s good when you can see a grin from behind a mask!! I could see theirs and I know I was grinning ear-to-ear.

One of my memorable eliminations was when I took point in a 4-man team and pushed into dense brush to find a couple snipers. To make a long story short I slowly pushed my way in stopping frequently to scope the area. The density of the brush had us hunched over and crawling. As I threw a leg over a downed tree, WHAP!, right in the left ass cheek. As I spun around, I could see the sniper about twenty yards away against the downed tree I just climbed over. As I turn to find my way out, I spot the second sniper 15 yards down the opposite end of the tree! It was THAT thick in places. As I backtracked my way past my teammates, “WHAT HAPPENED?!”, they asked. “I GOT SHOT IN THE ASS!”, I blurted out before I could button my lip. Major kudos to those snipers!

I think the player count for the weekend was 1,700. Saturday’s heat was brutal. I believe 22 people needed help getting out of play due to heat exhaustion. A number of those needed an ambulance and a few had to be taken to the hospital. I personally drank about 300 oz. of water and lemonade with electrolytes. Sunday was not as hot but was still humid. I still drank about 150-200 oz of water. It did rain Sunday and the cool rain was a relief. It would have been nice if we weren’t trying to hold the closing ceremonies and prize raffles during the downpour though! There were a number of markers, HPA tanks and large gear bags given away as prizes as well as some marker specific upgrades. I don’t remember how many prizes were given out exactly, but it was more than I’ve seen before. Somehow I managed not to win anything or snatch any freebies that were tossed into the crowd. It was a fun weekend. I had a great time and have no problems going to another Pyro produced game.

There are plenty more stories to tell about this game but I am already looking forward to ION in a couple weeks. They’re expecting 5000 for that one.

NJ Nam '07 Pictures

My personal stats for this game and my game notes/comments can be found in the Play Log section of my brigade page.

Two top pictures were taken by Team Extreme Measures. Action Shots below by Kathie Williams of Fireworks Photography

Gallery

2008 Season
Battle of Stalingrad (Skirmish USA)	March 15
I've tried to give all proper credit to where it's due and asked permissions where I thought necessary.

2007 Season
Battle of Hube's Pocket (Hornet's Nest)	March 3
Battle of Stalingrad (Skirmish USA)	March 10
War of Attrition (Strategy Plus)	April 14
Battle of Guadalcanal (West Point)	April 21-22
NJ NAM (Accurate Paintball)	June 2-3
ION (Skirmish USA)	July 13-15
Deadwood (Strategy Plus)	August 11-12
NATO vs. Russia (West Point)	September 15-16
Hitman Paintball Challege (Strategy Plus)	November 10
Toys for Tots, Santa Vs. The Grinch (Strategy Plus)	December 8
I've tried to give all proper credit to where it's due and asked permissions where I thought necessary.

What do you need? An Invitation?!

I just sent out an email to a few friends, who like to talk about going paintballing but have trouble committing! Well here's your open invitation. My schedule is posted and updated here. If there's a weekend you want to come out. Hit up my email or pick-up the phone. Last minute is usually ok for the games listed.

Yes these are Scenario Games, AKA Big Games, based on accomplishing various missions for certain point values; like seizing and holding an objective (person, place or thing) or finding & returning an objective to your base. This differs from the typical game of capture the flag which often times boils down to a game of elimination. Elimination doesn't tend to work in scenario games due to there being healing "medics" on the feild and/or respawns on the quarter hour or immediately at a respawn location.

Whereas, in a normal recreation game the feilds are relatively small, a scenario is gererally played on a feild consisting of a good number of acres and is large. To someone who hasn't played a scenario game, this all can sound complicated and for a hardcore nut. While some may like that hardcore image, I submit that these games are usually more friendly! Bragging rights aside, the sole purpose of these games are generally to have fun. Besides when your out there with a bunch of friends slinging paint and you work together to make a plan come together, or you give 'em hell trying, how can you NOT have fun! That's enough of me trying to sell the scenario game...

If you still don't think you ready for that and want to do a rec game. Here's a short list of feilds in the area where I'm sure we could have a good time...

Closer
• Cousin's (Plattekill NY)
• Liberty (Patterson NY)
• Hornet's Nest (Ancramdale NY)
  
  Further
• Strategy Plus (East Hampton CT)
• Skirmish (Jim Thorpe PA)

(There are a couple in Jersey that are relatively close but I haven't been to them personally yet so they are not listed. There are also a few out in north-eastern Long Island but I generally detest Long Island Traffic.)

So how 'bout it?!

War of Attrition '07 Pictures

My personal stats for this game and my game notes/comments can be found in the Play Log section of my brigade page.

Pictures were taken by LT "Cook" of Team Extreme Measures

Battle of Guadalcanal ‘07

This was West Point’s 2007 Spring Game. The last time I played West Point in Spring of ’06 the weather was very cold with torrential rain. This weekend, the weather was beautiful! Cold Gear out, Heat Gear in. Both Saturday and Sunday, the temperature was just below 80°F with sunny skies. Point is… it was a perfect weekend for paintball.

West Point has great natural terrain for paintball. The field was located by Camp Buckner off Route 293 and was rather large. I found, for the numbers playing, there was plenty of room to maneuver, be it to flank or sneak around. Some of the hill inclines were rather steep and long though. Shortly after the open of the game, several of us Japanese saw American opfor trying to sneak around our base. We came down one of these long hills to meet them; down, all the way to the shoreline of the lake that was the west border. We repelled their push, but not without losing most of our squad. We had been eliminated down to two men when Opfor began pushing again. After my other teamate was shot out, I began bouncing from cover to cover, trying to get angles on the approaching team without getting myself surrounded. As they advanced further this turned into a Lazy D until I started to get low on air. At this point I retreated about 40 yards until I was out of sight and then advanced back through the cover of pricker bushes, about 25 yards, to what I figured would be the center of their advance. I sat and waited. My idea was to pop up in the middle and try to eliminate a few before I was eliminated or ran out of air. I could hear rustling out in front, then to the side and then behind. Turns out, from behind me, Japanese friendly reinforcements were moving up. Opfor must’ve seen them coming and decided on another route. After we swept forward through the area, I broke off to get air. That’s when I realized how far down the hill I had traveled! Let just say that I had to stop several times to catch my breath and the CLIMB was not easy. Now, I’m not the most in-fit nor anywhere near the youngest on the field, but I didn’t see anyone who could bound up these hills without stopping for a breath! God Bless the Cadets whom train out there! During the course of the weekend I trekked down and up twice more. It may have been smarter to let the fight come to us, but that wouldn’t have nearly been as fun!

I had the pleasure of meeting Chibbs of Team Voodoo and playing alongside him. -same for Mariol, General Rob and the rest of the Hell Katz. Barney, Craig and a contingent of RT Raiders dealt swift HAMMER blows to any Allied forces in their path and the Red Raiders brought one hell of an arsenal to send the GI scurring. (Besides the “normal” bazooka-type shoulder fired rocket launchers, these guys also had M2-type baseplate’n’tripod infantry mortars, as well as 3-man slingshots to hurl grenades!). I think it’s well established at this point that the sides were balanced heavily to the Japs. By lunch of the first day, the Cadets were already trying to get people to jump sides in an attempt to even things out. Our opening push drove the Americans back to their spawn points at their Base & Airfield and we had control of most of the field real estate. That’s not to say that there weren’t a number of tough skirmishes at various points across the map. There were several ‘beach landings’ where the Americans were advancing on our base. In fact, at one point we were being overrun and were told to evacuate the base so that our own side could send in artillery fire to clear Opfor out. In the first day point totals, the Japanese had accumulated 4 or 5 times the points of the Americans. My best guess at my personal death/kill ratio is recorded in the play log section of my brigade page.

At the start of the second day, the Cadets had redistributed the teams again and due to people choosing not to play the second day, they effectively shortened the field by moving all objectives to one side of the field. I remained Japanese and again, we brought the fight to the Americans. Resistance was much stiffer now and real estate much harder fought over.

It is interesting to note that the two days had similar weather and most reported the paint to be excellent for both days, whereas I experienced a flurry of in-barrel ball breaks on the second day. It must have been something to do with my equipment. On the second day I was getting poor accuracy and barrel breaks about every 15-20 rounds. I was using a barrel squeegee and cleaning each time. I started carrying the squeegee in my left hand instead of putting it away. I seem to be the only one I know of that had any problem with paint during the weekend. On day one, I only had one barrel break and accuracy was decent.

One notable skirmish on day two was when myself, Mariol and two others made our way to the north west corner of the map by the shoreline, and started making our way up the hill, along the North tape, to the American HQ. There was already a major attack on the HQ from the East by, I believe, the Red Raiders. I think it was the Skulls who were advancing up and along the ridge from the south. And here we were coming from the west. We were doing OK trying to maximize our angles and not let any Opfor past us about a ¼ up the hill we lost a man and another was out of paint. About ½ way up, I was out of paint. Moving up, calling out enemy positions, working angles and dry firing, the Opfor was still retreating up the hill until we found ourselves at the ¾ mark! By then, the Skulls to our right had joined us as the perimeter of our forces tightened on their HQ. Reinforcements were sneaking up to the left and right of me as I tried to distract Opfor from the Skulls who were closing in from within the ridgeline. I was finally eliminated, but not before reinforcements were in place and we were closing in on ‘em. I felt as though this had been the most effective I’ve been without a lick of paint to shoot. Unforunately, I was also completely out of all the paint I had for the weekend with only an hour left of the game. Thanks to Capt. Malone for the few pods of paint keeping me in till the end of the game.

I thought it was clever that when we took the American re-spawn point, the Cadets gave the Americans our spawn point so that they would mass and attack us from behind. What the Americans didn’t realize is that from our new vantage point on the high ground, we were able to see them coming and radio in their position to our troops up close. Also when they tried to flank the troops that were close-in, we could rain down paint from above! The second day’s point total had the Americans leading, but their second day’s lead could in no way make up for day one’s massive deficit. I don’t remember the exact totals but it was something like 6000+ points for the Japanese and 1700-something points for the Americans. It was a great weekend to see and sling some paint at a bunch of friends and of course make a few new ones while you’re at it.

OH - how can I forget! I thought having a real M249 SAW firing blanks right behind you as you play was awesome until I heart the report of the 50 cal Machine Gun. First a TA-DA-DA-DA … DA-DA … TA-DA-DA-DA followed by a DUGG-DUGG-DUGG … DUGGA-DUGGA … DUGG-DUGG-DUGG. The Blackhawk was one sexy beast, and its fly-bys were a nice touch, too. Sign up for Fall early! Early word says the date is September 15 and the scenario will be of a cold war / Red Dawn type. Proceeds always go to the West Point Black Knights Paintball team.

Photo credits...

I recently added a Photobucket/Adobe Photo Mix-up Video to my brigade page but I didn't have enough room to add proper credits. I am up against the character limit of the player description and had to reword the content a little and remove some coding as it is.

The watermarked photos are courtesy of Strategic Paintball and the others are courtesy of LT "Cook" of Team Extreme Measures. Here's the video...

This was actually very easy to do with the tools incorporated into photobucket. This one took about 10 minutes. Drag & Drop photo's from your album. Drop in transitions if you want. Find and drop in a song. Adjust the photo durations to the music cues via a slider. proof. publish. done.