The concert world has changed in the past few years, moving from a touring  model to the idea of a destination festival.  Instead of bringing a traveling road show of acts to major venues, the destination festival operates on a different principle – create the greatest event and let the consumer travel to take part.  Paintball has also made a similar transformation.  While several national scenario and tournament producers create a mobile roadshow that crisscrosses the country, players recently are opting to attend several large-scale events, held on the same fields each year, that build up over time to create a unique paintball travel experience.  If you love the sport, attending one of these events is something you start saving your dollars for well in advance.
Oklahoma D-Day.  Perhaps the most well-known destination event, OK D-Day takes place each year at the D-Day Adventure Park in Wyandotte, Oklahoma.  Over the past ten years this recreation of the historic military battle has grown in scope from a few hundred players over a weekend to thousands of attendees over the course of a week.  The full D-Day experience includes different paintball games each day, a week of family camping, the notorious obstacle course, and the culminating D-Day game itself with landing craft, dozens of tanks, and thousands of players.  In any given second of action, cases of paint will be flying through the air.  The vendor village alone rivals those on the major tournament circuits, and recruiting for the battle begins a year in advance.
Elite Weekend.  On a completely different scale, Elite Weekend offers a much more personal experience with far fewer participants.  Even though Elite Weekend has only run for two years straight, the precedent it set in 2007 put it high on many scenario players’ must-attend lists.  Elite Weekend in Utah starts with a tour of the Special Ops factory followed by a complete equipment outfitting session.  Participants pay a steep fee to attend, but they walk away with a complete marker, tricked out to their specifications, a custom tactical vest, a full camo suit in a unique pattern, a mask, and all the paint they can shoot for the entire weekend.  And what a weekend it is, with training sessions with some of the top players in the game, team challenges, an SPPL-style game, and a full-blown scenario game to cap it all off.
Castle Conquest.  EMR Paintball in Pennsylvania is one of the premier paintball fields in the country.  While many fields have built castles, few rival the infamous Castle AAARRGH with its 30,000 square feet of playing area.  Twice a year EMR hosts Castle Conquest, the biggest game of attack and defend in the world.  They stack the odds against the defenders then start the clock and let the hordes do their best to invade the castle.  While it has happened that the defenders hold out for the entire time limit, the point of this incredibly intense game is to have as much fun as possible, and teams travel thousands of miles for their chance to take part.  Even if you don’t have a regular scenario team to play with, you can still have a blast at Castle Conquest.
Hell Survivors.  This famous field in Michigan, Hell Survivors, is not only one of the longest operating and largest fields in the country, but it’s also the site of three of the biggest events on the calendar.  The Tippmann World Challenge pits Tippmann armed players against all others in a massive big game over the gigantic Hell Survivors field.  The Michigan Monster Game typically draws 1500 or more players to participate in a truly monstrous event where teams push to capture the forts and towns of the Hell Survivors field.  Global Conquest is a seven team game of paintball risk, and it also has a loyal following.  Pick your own or play all three.
There are other events worth mentioning, each of them a major game worthy of long drives or plane rides.  Wayne Dollack caps off each year with a two day Grand Finale game that is the highlight of many players’ scenario season.  The legendary field, Skirmish, runs their world record-breaking Invasion of Normandy game each year, and companies have started producing large-scale events in such desirable locations as Hawaii, Australia, and England.  With so many choices, why not make paintball a reason to travel this year?  I’ll see you at the airport.

Yesterday I attended the first official day of walk-on play at a new field in Granite Falls, NC - Precision Sports Paintball.  The good people behind Precision have a long history in paintball, going back to the good old Splatmaster days.  After the clear cutting of a popular renegade field, the folk behind Precision took an opportunity to expand their business beyond their tiny storefront to a much larger location that now includes a sizeable proshop, a ten acre woodsball field, and an indoor field.

The proshop contains an impressive variety of equipment, from starter markers to some tricked out custom jobs.  They carry scenariocentric equipment as well as tournament ready gear, and plenty of it.  A new player could outfit himself head to toe at Precision Sports.  While the field doesn’t have a website yet, this site has contact information, if you want to get in touch with them.  They do provide service for all their equipment, and they have a professionally trained airsmith on the premises.

Bill from Rogue Cell, a local scenario powerhouse, runs the wooded fields, and he has a vision for the acreage.  He’s built up several forts and laid out the land to roughly mirror 1950s era Korea.  I had a chance to jump in on several attack-and-defend games, and the terrain proved just right for some excellent ambushes.  After I hid in the brush and shot two enemy players after they walked past me, their sniper took me out with a single well-placed shot.

Back on the inside, the 140 x 50 indoor airball field proved just right for some lightning fast games.  The players there are no slackers either; the ones who showed up yesterday were a mix of veterans, current and former tourney players, and some enthusiastic newer players looking to hone their skills.  I warmed up with a few one-on-ones with Nathan, and after seeing him get the angles on me, I had a better feel for the layout before the bigger games.

When it came to three-on-threes or five-on-fives, this bunker packed indoor field played like that short-lived professional three man indoor series.  Super fast games on a playing surface that made it possible for me to get down the snake in about 3 seconds.  Fun stuff.

The owners of Precision Sports Paintball have plans to add an outdoor hyperball field, a full-size X-Ball field, and to continue to improve the woods.  With an easily accessible location, reasonable prices, a friendly and knowledgeable staff, and a good crowd of locals, Precision Paintball gets the thumbs up.

I just returned from a great game at an up-and-coming scenario field, Adventure Beach Paintball in Tabor City, NC - right on the coast. They have a packed schedule this year, and they’re bringing in some outside help to make their games great. MPP and BeBop will both be running games there in 2008, so mark your calendars. Right now I have that weekend free, so it’s looking like time to plan another trip to the beach. Open the attached PDF for all the juicy details.

leningrad-flyer.pdf

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.