I love to find those hidden treasures - great paintball fields squirreled away off the beaten track (in other words - in the middle of nowhere, like most paintball fields). Since the scenario I had scheduled to attend today was canceled, I decided to hunt down a new place to play where people aren’t scared of temperatures in the 90s and humidity that feels like breathing water. I found a great field with a loyal local following and some big plans, Behind Enemy Lines, located just south of Gastonia, NC. Behind Enemy Lines, B.E.L. for short, came as a welcome surprise in so many ways. Ever heard about a field then took a trip down some country roads only to find a few pallets stuck in the woods behind someone’s barn? Ever played “speedball” around hay bales? Ever seen someone fill a CO2 tank “by ear?” Well, if you live in North or South Carolina you probably have, but for those lucky enough to call B.E.L. their home field, they’re used to living much higher on the hog.

Behind Enemy Lines has a nice little proshop stocked with some sweet woodsball guns and a few nice all-around pieces, like the Dangerous Power G3. They’re set up for 4500 air fills, and the paint they keep in stock ranges from pretty good to outright excellence. And for those of you who dread the sanitary conditions at most fields - they have real indoor restrooms, for men AND women. Women at a paintball field? If you build it, they will come.

The price is right at B.E.L. with a no-field-fee policy, but what makes this worth checking out is their woods. Designed by paintballers, the nearly seven acres of playable terrain showcases the features that veteran ‘ballers love. Their hilltop sandbag-and-trench fort dominates the woods with well-designed (and fun to attack) forts on either side of the woods. In between the cover ranges from thick brush near the creek to thick trees and more open lanes. They’ve stacked the perimeters with some nice log bunkers that make sneaky flanking moves a breeze, and the refs are open to running whatever sorts of games the players demand. On my visit we played everything from simple elimination to attack-and-defend to assimilation, protect the president, and a highlander game (you know, only head shots because “there can be only one”).

Even on a sauna-esque day, around 20 players showed up to duke it out through the heat haze, but the field owner says that when cooler weather hits, 80-100 players isn’t uncommon. The field can certainly hold that many in a game, and plans are in the works to expand further with another seven acres of woods and a netted and turfed airball field. I also got a chance to hang with a couple of hardcore scenario gunners, Tombs from Port City Militia and MGB from Team Boxer. If great squads like that hone their craft at B.E.L., it’s worth a try. Thanks to all the players and refs at Behind Enemy Lines for a great day of summer paintball.

I recently had a chance to speak to my friend Wayne Montle of Blast Radius Woodsball Podcast about all the madcap antics that went down at OK D-Day.  Give it a listen.  If you don’t already subscribe to Blast Radius (I get my episodes through iTunes), put that on your To-Do list, and pick up a t-shirt if they’re not already gone.  All the cool scenario kids are wearing them.

As a certified paintball junkie, I’ve played in all weather conditions from the cold months of winter to the heat and humidity of summer; I even once played during an ice storm. With a little planning you can play paintball in any weather situation. Now that we’re broiling in the heat, it’s time for some tips that will help you stay on the field when others are getting stretchered away.

Summer heat requires taking care of two areas – your equipment and yourself. First, humidity and direct sunlight can cause paintballs to swell if they’re not properly stored. If you’re buying from the local field or pro shop, chose a business that stocks fresh paint and stores it in a relatively cool, shaded location. Buying older, improperly stored paintballs leads to swollen balls (This is Splat after all - can’t get away from the thinly veiled sexual innuendo, even in the blogs.) that either break in the barrel or fail to break on your opponents.

Purchasing quality paint from a local field is the best bet if you can examine how they store it. Buying paint from a department store or online dealer may lead to trouble as you have no idea how they’ve handled their paint, or in the case of the department store, if they even know how to handle it. Unless you’ve had good experience buying online, I suggest supporting local ‘ball.

Also, once you have purchased your paint, do not leave it exposed to direct sunlight as this can cause the balls to clump together. Keep your paint in the shade (not your car’s trunk). My simple solution is to carry two coolers, one for my paint and one for my drinks.

If you’re using CO2 as your propellant, you should check your marker’s velocity on a regular basis - after each game or so. The cold liquid CO2 expands more rapidly when heated by the summer sun, leading to velocity spikes that could push your gun’s speed past safe limits or cause your paint to break in your barrel. Consider moving to high pressure air (HPA) as a more consistent, reliable propellant that does not fluctuate with temperature. Even if you’re using compressed air, you will still want to regularly check your velocity, although you shouldn’t find major variances.

Even properly stored paint can change sizes during the course of a day due to humidity, but the use of a barrel kit will allow you to continue to shoot the same paint with the same degree of accuracy. Basically, a barrel kit lets the user to select either an insert or an entire back piece that properly matches the paint. This increases gas efficiency, makes the velocity more consistent, and improves accuracy while giving the user the flexibility to shoot any size of paintball. Barrel kits, while more expensive than single barrels, are well worth the investment.

Taking care of yourself while playing is a matter of common sense. Keep hydrated before, during, and after playing paintball. Bring along a cooler of water or sports drinks, and take a few extra to share with your new friends at the field. Slather your exposed skin with sunscreen, and understand that your mask lens, unless it is reflective, will not keep your face from getting burned. Even if you own a high quality mask with a fog resistant lens, you may still experience problems due to sweat running down the interior. I wear a bandana rolled into a headband as both head protection and to catch perspiration, and I switch it out regularly for a dry one. Even with this precaution the foam around my lens becomes soaked, so I carry a spare mask to wear while the other one dries out. None of these tips takes much effort, but being prepared for hot weather will enable you to get in more games and have more fun, making paintball a year-round sport.