A day of CorelPaint!ball... hehe! (Sorry, bad pun.... }:) Got there well enough... well, after getting lost by following the lead BLACK TRANSAM! (Pete's car... _nice_ car) The day started out not so great. I had flashbacks to the last time I was at that field... the paint SUCKED! This time, you could even see the dimples on the balls! I sighed and dumped it into my hopper. Went and chrono'ed, and discoverd my gun was firing slow... argh! Had to open the thing up and change the 4 way valve, just in time for everyone to leave. RUSHING like a madman, I finished up and managed to catch up to everyone 3/4 of the way to the field. This was not looking good... }:) Game starts... I had the distinction of being the first person eliminated for the day! WooWoo! Smacked on the right shoulder while moving forward... looking down at my belt because I heard paintballs rattling... duh on my part! -grin- One game, 4 minutes playing time on my part, 3 shots fired. Hmmmm... Did better the next game, but my fears about the paint was unfortuneatly all true. This paint SUCKED! The PMI-3 does not break paint, if it's good paint. This was not good paint. I splooged early. This means that nothing flies straight anymore. Nothing. Soooo... none the less, I managed to hit 3 during that game before being eliminated. I resigned myself to a day much like last years at this field. At least everyone had the same horrid paint... }:) Next game, we played the urban assault field, wif us defending. And I discovered myself where I 'promised' myself I'd never end up. In the tower! AIE!! AIE!! Still, it was interesting... without any trees, without any obstructions, and firing from ahigh, I had fun watching my shots do sin waves, anime-missile impresonations, curveballs, and everything but go straight. Dimples are _not_ good on paint. -sigh- I did two things, though... besides getting one person (using the wiggling paint to good advantage by hitting someone _behind_ cover) I managed to run out of paint and managed to hold the other team off (even wifout paint) with my teamates to win the game. One thing, though... hearing paint hitting plywood at high velocity can be quite nerve-wracking. And LOUD! }:) Wif that and the cammo netting that some balls would catch, I caught a LOT of spray that game... As I came down the back of the tower I said "Well, that was fun, but you'll forgive me if I never want to do that again!" -grin- But the paint was wearing heavy on my mind... twice at this field, and BOTH times it was turning out to be just the shittiest paint I'd used since Karl's paint from my purple-streams-of-goo story. Then we bought new paint. Proball. (Never used that brand before... but I don't know what the first brand we used either) Blue and Pink shell, pink fill. And the difference was noticable. NO dimples. NO seam. Looked nice. And it was! }:) With proper paint in gun, things were a bit more successful. I wanted to conserve ammo next game, so I hung back, taking it easy (we were assulting the tower this time), got one, got hit (in the exposed knee) and went to lunch. 4 games, 5 elims. Had to get a 20oz tank refil due to the leak in my gun. After lunch, the fun _really_ started... }:) Now that I could shoot straight, I began to do much better. And was playing better too. I often managed to get into good firing positions, or behind others to help out teamates, I could hit people, etc... what are some of the ones I can remember? We played an interesting (and very quick) variation on the normal theme. There was a field that had this wooden fort in the centre, in which they hung a flag. Both teams started at their respective flag stations, not to far away in the bush. The object was to rush in, grab the flag, and rush back to your flag station. So... our team devised quite the plan (which I didn't know about) I ran over to one side of the fort, behind a barricade to pick off the other team as they came out. Meanwhile, we had a runner just BARREL into the fort, grab the flag and toss it over the side. -grin!- Another of our guys dropped his gun, ran, got the flag by the wall and high-tailed it back to our side. The game lasted some 3 minutes! }:) And I still managed to get a few of the other team as they came out from their neck of the woods... weren't expecting me there. Next game was similar with another variation. We had to get the flag to _their_ flag station. Same stratagie, and we got the flag and brought it back to our lines. Only then we made a slight mistake... we should have assembed into one huge mass and pushed our way to their station, but instead we tried to just let the flag runner make his way up with a few as the firefights raged all over the place. But I had an interesting situation... I went over to the same place I was last game, and had hit a few, but there was one hiding behind a large spool (for holding electrical wire) over on the other side, whom I couldn't hit because of my angle, and he was holding back Dave and the flag runner. So I looked across, could see no other firer, and charged the spool. As I went across, to the 'back' of the person I wondered if I should fire or no... ask to surrender or no... when I got there I could see he was turning around. So I fired. It hit him on the arm. (I was hoping for the chest) It drew blood. I could only appologize... -sigh- But I then turned my attention to the game at hand again. I tried to wave my teamates ahead, then charged forward. I didn't think there was anyone that close ahead.. instead, I got myself pinned down behind a tree with one in front, and two to my 2-o'clook position. Oops! I thought I had adequate cover, but my neck disagreed. }:) Had some other good games... we played one field only once wif a creek down the middle, and I was having a grand old time. AH, furgot to mention this. It's spring/summer, finally, and the leaves have all come out. There's a lot of dead leaves on the ground, which made for crunchy walking, but there were also a lot of low trees, wif nice young leaves. Apparently, my cammo _really_ works well in this. }:) }:) ('Official' Tiger-Stripe Pattern) This allowed me, in lots of cases, to just sit there, not moving, and wait until they moved close and into an open range. And with some luck I could also often rush forward to close and get. This game was one of those games... I was having a swell time, picking off a few as they came around or emerged, tracking some, ambushing others. I ended up next to Dave and JC as we went over the creek, and I split off to go hunt some more. I thought the flag was on the hill in front of me.. it wasn't. It was over to my right... I was headed that way, and saw a group of players there, so I hunkered down, and was about to go forward to pick them off when the horn blew. Apparently they had the flag. Nuts! }:) Dave had a good day... he managed to hang their flag 3 times, though once they had our flag so it wasn't a game-ending thing. (They had a rule there that you had to secure both flags to win... hurm.) I didn't touch the flag once, but that's not too unusual. Dave also managed to not get eliminated all that much, unlike me. But then, I'm known to move up a lot... }:) Another good situation was on a hill... wif my teamates holding down a few, I crept back and went around. Then barreled down a hill to end up behind the two and fired away. Those types of rushes are fun... but they can get one into trouble. 2nd last game, playing on a field I requested, a similar situation. As I was contemplating my next action, I look behind to see a good half-dozen or more of my players. Cool... }:) I eliminate the one just in front of me and I decide to charge down this hill to get the two off to my 2 position that were holding back my guys. Only I went a bit to far... for there were others further down that got me. }:) Had I stopped just perpendicular to the two I was trying to get, I would have been fine, but I wanted to get in behind... oops. }:) Hmmmm... I am trying to think of other interesting things form that day. To me, much of it is 'generic paintball action' now... so its hard for me to recall all the details.... only very 'out of the ordinary/cool' stories stick in my mind.. }:( It turned out to be a great day... lots of camraderie, no fights or disputes (not that there's usually any) Though most people were newbies, and so didn't have the ideas of hand-signals or coordination, there were some great team-efforts. The terrain at that field was, as it was last year, excellent, and much better in May than in March. (And I didn't lose my shoe this time! }:) In fact, I wore those same shoes...) The people running it seemed a bit nicer this time too... lunch was but pizza, a drink and some donut-holes. They dropped the steak dinner because they claimed it was too $$. Entrance was 42 bucks !! including 300 rounds, and I got another 300 rounds at 7 cents each. Not _too_ bad, I guess... but I find their field fee a _bit_ high.... The day ended with the usual game of speedball. I normally don't like speedball, and I usually don't play it, but I figured 'what the heck, I have paint left'. Of course, I quickly ran out of paint... so I told a few teamates 'I'll creaate a distraction, use it to good effect!' and proceeded to just run, SCREAMING down the side of the speedball court. Hehe... made it to the other end too before getting nailed... and nailed. Too bad my team did nothing during that point... }:) -chuckle- Much earlier in the day... the second game... I was just into it, moving forward into a new position, firing and then waiting. Looking. Determining my next move. And then I hear, from my 8-9 position, Dave say, in a clear, constant tone: "Oliver, I have a problem." (a la Apollo 13) -grin!- So I moved back and over to his position to un-jam his gun (damn Poisons) But that was a great line... }:) Back to the end of the day... I loaned my gun to Dave for the other speedball game, since he had lots of paint left. Earlier, I'd asked him to hold it for a moment, and his comment was "this thing weighs a ton!" which, in truth, it does... the PMI-III is a heavy gun. After that game (in which he did quite well) I asked him what he thought. I wish I could remember what he said! }:) It was perfect... something along the lines of 'you can aim with this gun!' and 'this thing rocks!' It's worth the weight, I know he did say... he still had paint left, and proceeded to fire it off at the range. Oh, so how did I do for the day? 18 eliminations... which I think is an all-time high for myself. I got 14 last year (which, considering the paint last year, is more impresive.) 5 before lunch, the rest after... what a diff the paint can make! As it should be, with the good paint, I didn't break a single ball. How did I fare in return? Well... -grin- I did get eliminated in nearly every game... but that's the fun of it. }:) Welt wise, well... this is interesting. }:) My right shoulder got nailed no less than _four_ times, and has a nice grouping of four welts on it. Lower down, by my elbow is another welt, for a total of five on that arm. Hmmmm! }:) Just above the shoulder is the welt from that neck hit (and boy, does _that one_ look interesting!) I have a minor one from a knee hit, and another minor one somewhere else (Can't remmber where...) In fact, all but one of my welts are on the right-side of my body! -grin- The only one on the left side is from my speedball charge, and that one's on the side of my face. I am feeling yesterday by now... }:) Leg musles have stiffened up a bit... not painful, but stiff, despite the two hour walking I do each day of late. My shoulder hurts a bit... wonder why?... but what hurts more is my bicep on that arm... from carrying that heavy rifle! }:) Back hurts a bit, wrists, etc... the usual post-paintball-muscle-pull-count... }:) -Kannik taps the side of his muzzle- I'm not sure what else to say... right now, nothing esle strikes out as overly-memorable. I took the obligatory group photo just after lunch... but just in front of the tents, not, unfortunetaly, in front of Petes car. Which would have been cool... black sportscar, guns... };) I said 'Too bad, no shots of Pete's car' to which dave replied 'No shots _at_ Pete's car!' [Want to see pete's car? Go get the _Josephene, Portrait of an Assasin_ demo from MediaAge's web site: www.mediaage.com Dave's part of MediaAge now, working on their next game... Dave also _shot_ Pete first game in the head... -grin-] I also got a pic of me wif my welt grouping for fun... :P And that's what I did on my weekend. }:) [For any furry out there, you'll get that last line... ;)