I’m now being forced to write on this weblog. If I don’t do this by Friday, I can’t game until I do a writing assignment. Anyway, I’m writing about a paintball trip.
Keith’s dad invited us to go on a paintballing expedition with his co-workers. My dad overpacked with guns, drinks, and masks as usual. He also brought cookies. I couldn’t bring a book because they wanted Keith and me to interact on the way to Firemark Paintball (it’s same place we went to last time). We interacted for five minutes, then Keith got his dad’s I-phone. That was pretty much the end of our interaction.
Then we got to Firemark paintball. We were the first ones there. After the drive, we got to lug our stuff a quarter mile. Then then the rest of the department got here. After they rented all their stuff, we had to listen to a saftey talk. In the saftey talk we learned to say “paint check” and such. We also chose to be able to shoot point blank.
Then we chose teams, it was basically fathers and sons versus everybody else. Although Keith’s dad switched sides some time through the games. The games were mainly a blur because most of the time I just shot randomly, but these are some of the highlights. In one game I was crawling to a bunker and took some shots. The fort was like a U so I was on one end, and Keith’s dad was at the other. So when I got up to take some more shots, Keith’s dad shot me full of paint from eight feet away. During another game, I was following my dad’s suicide runs and we got to the other end of the field. My dad charged the last man but he didn’t make it. I tried to creep up quietly and I got 10 feet away from him. Then I opened fired. I guess the guy didn’t expect to be flanked by two crazy guys. During another game, my dad was shot by an old lady. I also think I may have shot one of my team members who was off the field.
After we were done, every one was sore. I probably have at least five red marks on my body. Keith complained about his arm on the way to the car. Keith’s dad was happy though, he got to shoot me, Keith, and his boss. His car probaly wasn’t happy because I alone slipped several times in the mud. Anyway, the moral of this story is that paintball is awesome although painful and dirty.
Excellent writeup, Corwin. Maybe your next one can be about how paintball paint tastes. :)
I had some fun on the outing as well, although I was sore for a couple of days afterwards. One really big bruise on my leg and a couple of smaller ones on another leg and an arm. No chest bruises like Corwin, although he’s not heavily marked for being shot in the chest from such close range. Mom’s comment was “at least he doesn’t bruise like you, he must have inherited my non-bruising genes”.
I had a varied day but overall a good one. I was taken out early in a couple of games. The worst was being the first one out after exchanging fire with an opponent and taking a shot in knuckles. On the other hand I dominated a couple of games, taking out half or more of the opposing team during sweeps up one side. Two games in a row I went out in a mutual kill with the same guy. The first time was during an edge push where I took him out along with his friend. In the second I was the victim of a push and decided that if I didn’t charge them, guns blazing, they would just flank me and take me out for free. I just ran out from my bunker firing and when the CO2 cleared the two of us were marked. At least I didn’t go alone.
My best memory is a couple of cinematic take outs where I broke out of cover and just walked down range, shooting as I went while my target scrambled desperately but unsuccessfully to get out of the line of fire. I think one of them was Keith’s dad.
You might think “why didn’t they just shoot you, since you were in the open” but it can be quite difficult to think clearly when some one is pumping out paintballs all around you. That’s why I kept shooting until they were out. You do have to count on your target not having a friend nearby, which can ruin the whole thing.
Corwin and I finished off a game in a fun way. It was had been going on for a while and most of the players were out. I decided that I didn’t want to just hide in a bunker and plink and I had two kids backing me (Corwin and another). I told them I was going to make a suicide run and they could come along behind me and finsih off the stragglers after they got me. I went charging out and took out 3 of the last 4 opponents without getting hit. I was quite surprised. But the last guy was bunkered down and I wasn’t quite sure where he was. I left the other kid to lob shots in his general direction to keep him pinned while I went on another kamikaze attack. I ended up getting behind him and coming at him from his team’s side but he was in a good position and even with good surprise he got me first. But what he wasn’t expecting even more was someone else behind the crazy guy and Corwin easily picked him off to win the game.
My best moment was during a speed ball game. I was pinned down with another guy in weak cover, but there was a nice line of low barriers just to our left. Keith’s dad was holding the far end but watching the inside. I broke around the other guy while he provided cover fire and made it to the outside of the barriers. I was running up them when I slipped on the soggy ground and full body planted on the ground. This left me a bit disoriented but I tried to scramble for what little cover there was when I was tagged in the leg. The ref felt sorry for me, saying “oh, so close!”. What was really sad was that Keith’s dad had no idea I was coming up the line and would have been as meat before me. But that’s just the way it goes sometimes.
I have to mentiond Corwin’s encounter with Keith’s dad. That was the game I was taken out by the hand shot first thing. I was hanging with the ref watching KD hiding behind a U-shaped bunker, popping off a shot now and then. We watched Corwin push up the same side, doing a good job of using cover, until he dropped down behind the same bunker as KD but on the other upright of the U. KD knew Corwin was there, but Corwin didn’t know about KD. So KD waited till Corwin popped up to shoot and then popped up himself and nailed Corwin. It was such a surprise and such close range that Corwin literally staggered and dropped. I had to help him off the field and take care of his paintball gun. But by the time the game was over he was fully recovered.
The teams were fairly even, although we should have won a game we lost. At the end it was 3 of our players to one of theirs which should have been an easy pick up but the opponent managed to take out all three. The problem was that they were bunched together, two in a bunker and one right behind that, plinking away until they ran low on ammo and the opponent picked them off one by one.
In a later game we had the same set up except I was one of the last three. I had the opponent pinned but he had a good enough angle of fire that I couldn’t push forward for a good flank. I yelled at the other players and eventually the pushed up on the other side and it was over quickly after that as I was able to push and get the angle on him.
Corwin is now a real paintball player, as he got to taste paintball pain from a mask hit. I got some myself, later on, but I had had the pleasure of that experience long before.