Adventure Beach used the daylight paratrooper raid of Point Salines Airport, the kick-off to the 1983 invasion of Grenada, as the basis of their game. US Rangers faced off against the People’s Resistance Army (pro communist forces in the country) in a single day charity scenario game roughly based on the historic military conflagration. While the weather was crappy with temperatures just above freezing and rain for most of the morning, dedicated players came out to support a positive cause and to play a great scenario field.

The Rangers had it tough from the beginning. The game’s storyline forced them to establish a beachhead on the island before they could set up a command post. The PRA, on the other hand, fought from Adventure Beach’s town field, but they had to traverse the entire length of the field to get to the action, at least in the opening few hours. The PRA also came out swinging, taking the fight right to the Rangers. When asked for a team preference at registration, I chose the PRA simply because their base would be closer to my campsite, but when I learned that the producers had to balance the teams before game-on because 75% of the players had picked the Rangers, I got worried. Team RATS and a few other players switched over, but even at the opening horn I felt like our team would be playing an uphill battle against a more experienced opponent. I shouldn’t have been worried.

At the start signal I moved with a squad that flanked the swamp side of the field, pushing all the way to the back boundary where the Point Salines airstrip lay. We then established a perimeter around the strip to prevent the Rangers from landing their cargo planes, while another group continued the flank to engage the Rangers in an ambush. I set up on point and got my first taste of the action when I surprised a squad of four Rangers moving down the road to the airstrip. While I shot them all, the second squad I hadn’t seen spotted my position. Three of them were content to gun fight with me - standing in the open against a player in cover. Heck, I’ll take those odds, but the fourth player crept through the woods and sent me packing for home. Nicely played Rangers.

As the missions continued, I noticed something unusual about the players on the Ranger side. I might run across one or two in the woods, but if I ran across a group, it was a really big group. Our side broke into squads of four to six for most of the game, but their side was traveling in packs of 20 or more. That gave them the edge in a straight-up fight, but on a field like Adventure Beach’s, where there are so many concealed ways to move, it kept them from covering their angles. The PRA teams got to their mission objectives fairly easily simply because they could move around the massive clumps of Rangers while they stopped to engage a single small team.

The highlight of the game for me was when we destroyed the Rangers’ base. My buddy Dwayne took a group of newbies to flank the base from the left, while I ran with a couple of the Little Girl Paintball Mafia and moved in from the right. Those Little Girls can play - rocking some sweet pump guns, but the layout of the field and shooters at the Ranger base kept them pinned. I risked a move to dash across some open ground for a tall bunker within an easy shot of the base, and I made it. The defenders hammered my spot with suppressive fire, but Dwayne’s shots from the other side of the base grabbed their attention, and that was all it took. They removed their eyes from me for a moment and I snapped out, saw way too many open shots, and picked off the entire group of defenders in about 15 seconds. Upon getting word that we had blown the Ranger base, the producers set off some big booming fireworks, which was a nice touch.

PRA won the day by 50 points, and the field raised some money for a paintballer in need. The Chronic paint I shot at the event broke like a dream and left big, thick orange splotches on the Rangers who got in my way (except for the few who shot me first), and most importantly, everyone had a great time. I plan to hit Adventure Beach for a few more scenarios this year, so check out my “US Tour 2008″ link for those dates. Fun game.

The game’s over, and boy am I worn out.  Even with temperatures hovering just above freezing and a steady drizzle for the first half of the game, a good crowd came out and played the fun fields at Adventure Beach.  I had the good fortune to play with RATS, Staggering Mayhem, Port City Militia, Little Girl Paintball Mafia, Team Brute, and Shadow Group.  Fun game, great field - look for more of a write up, with pictures, in the near future.

Stay tuned - I’m going to break some big news (at least big news for me) in the near future.  Hopefully I’ll have some details in the next few days, but it’s looking like my quest for the ultimate scenario gun may soon be over.

I’ve updated my calendar of scenario dates.  Simply click on “US Tour 2008″ under links to see my Google Calendar.  I still have some dates open, especially in the summer months.  If you’re a field or producer and you’d like me to cover your event or write about a walk-on day at your field, contact me before my 2008 is completely booked.

Ah, summer camp – the fond memories of canoeing, eating cafeteria food, and singing around the campfire. I also recall gluing popsicle sticks together at arts and crafts time and playing embarrassing games designed to establish a bond of mutual humiliation between the campers. This summer, instead of learning more camp songs, why not hone your skills at paintball camp instead? My local paintball field, Line-of-Fire brings in a celebrity staff of paintball instructors each summer for their annual paintball camp. Anyone who has aspired to improve in a sport knows that game after game of trial-and-error isn’t the best way to learn any skill, but focused instruction by knowledgeable experts will put your game on the right path.
While some paintball camps require extensive travel and expensive accommodations, the Line-of-Fire camp brings top notch instruction to a convenient location. If you want to learn from the best, you can hardly go wrong with the teachers at Line-of-Fire’s camp. Mike Paxson of the world champion LA Ironmen brings tournament experience from the highest levels in the game. His wife, Bea Youngs-Paxson, is the editor-in-chief of Paintball Sports Magazine and brings a paintball pedigree as long as any in the sport. The third instructor, Rocky Cagnoni, was paintball’s first “rock star” player, and he knows the game inside and out. Together they teach everything from paintball fundamentals to the advanced techniques developed from years of playing at the professional level.
Line-of-Fire opens their camp to players of all ages and skill levels. Whether you play for a local tournament squad or you’ve just started in the sport, you can benefit from expert instruction. Campers should expect two days filled with activities and drills, and plenty of fun games to keep things light. Each day’s session begins with some stretching routines followed by activities geared towards the specific needs of those attending. The instructors cover game fundamentals such as breaking out, snap shooting, laning, gunning on the run, and formulating a game plan. They’ll also teach the aspects of paintball that you may have thought of as basics but are actually crucial skills that need to be developed to play the game at the highest level. Expect to learn proper body positioning, the best way to hold your marker to shoot accurately while keeping your profile as small as possible, and how best to reload given the fast pace of today’s tournament games.
Paintball isn’t only about on-field skills, and the Line-of-Fire’s friendly camp counselors are ready to meet those needs as well. They teach tech classes on how to care for and repairs some of the most popular paintball guns on the market. Players who fully understand their gear perform better on the field.
Following a second day of drills, instruction, and scrimmages, the camp culminates with a big meal, allowing campers and teachers alike to cement the friendships formed along the way. In the past they’ve also been treated to photo and video presentations documenting the campers’ accomplishments. There will also be plenty of opportunity for autographs or individualized instruction time with the celebrity instructors, and by the end of the experience, the campers will have gotten to know those top players as more than faces in a magazine or on television. Space in the camp is limited, and the chance to learn from the best is one that doesn’t come around very often, so make your arrangements now.

I’ve added a link to my events calendar, which is quickly filling. It’s looking like I’ll be playing 20-24 scenarios in 2008, so look for me at a field near you.

Adventure Beach Paintball is a fine field on the east coast. Located in the southeastern corner of North Carolina, ABP has an amazing town field, plenty of excellent woods, some forts, a cool pyramid, and a home team, Shadow Group, with great vision and sportsmanship. I’ll be attending a charity scenario game there on January 26th. They’re offering reasonable prices for registration, BYOP or three grades of field paint at nice prices, and a full day of scenario action. Teams within driving distance should definitely plan to attend. If you’ve never played a game at Adventure Beach, you’re missing a field that’s already fun but that also has incredible potential. They’re hosting an MPP game this year, which should draw some teams, but those same squads would be wise to learn the terrain by playing the charity scenario in a couple of weeks. Check out www.abspaintball.com for more details and directions.

I’m on a quest for 2008, to find the ultimate scenario marker. It’s looking like I’ll be playing 24-30 events this year, and with a packed schedule like that, I want to have a gun that functions as close to perfectly as a paintball gun can. If you’ve read my articles on paintball road trips, you’ve seen the gun collection I take to games. If I’m flying I’ll take a single marker, but if I have the luxury of the trunk of my ‘94 Civic, I’ll haul a stash of guns - a primary, a back up, and a pump. While I like all the guns I’m using now, I’d like to pick a new primary marker that meets all my personal criteria the best gun to shoot at a scenario game.

Those criteria are:

• Weight. If I’m going to lug something around for six hours straight, it needs to be light. I have owned some heavy guns, and while some of these are really fun for their mil-sim fantasy look, if I’m playing for an extended period, I want a gun that doesn’t weigh my arm down. I like hanging out in the camping area, but now when the game’s underway. That’s when I need to be on the field making things happen.
• Accuracy. Stick a good barrel on most high end guns and they’re accurate, but scenario games don’t always offer the best in paint choices. Sometimes you luck out with great paint (I’ve shot Russian Legion at a scenario!) and sometimes you get summer fill white box in the dead of winter. My ultimate scenario gun will handle crappy paint with reasonable accuracy, and when I put great paint through it, it’ll be dead on.
• Air Efficiency. Again, I don’t like coming off the field. When I’m eliminated, I head for the insertion zone to renegotiate the situation, and trips to the air fill station slow me down. The ultimate scenario gun is going to shoot close to a case of paint on a tank fill.
• Nimble. It’s hard to quantify, but the best paintball guns are nimble shooting machines that make gun fighting easy. Of course I would rather find angles and shoot everyone in the side, but too many times to get those angles it comes down to a one-on-one with the player who’s in the spot where I want to be. A great gun spits paint with speed (when that’s needed) and makes snap shooting a breeze.
• Reliability.  Simply put, the last thing I want to worry about on the field is whether I’m going to have to sit out and fix my gun.  Of course I carry a backup (and a backup for the backup), but the ultimate scenario gun isn’t going to let me down.

I’ve shot most everything out there, and I have a short list of possible contenders for the title. I’ll try a few out and make a decision in the next month or so, in time for the full slate of games I’m playing this year.

Why don’t you weigh in with your opinion? Give me some advice. What’s the ultimate scenario marker? You can assume any budget (although I’m as cheap as they come). Give me some feedback people.