Well this last Saturday was the official Blog Wars, and we had 11 people show up, including Bell, Mall Diva, Learned Foot, Noodles, Uncle Ben and a number of various friends/readers/comment trolls/etc also showed up. Thanks to all for attening and make the events a success. We manage to have alot of fun and raised $130 for Soldiers Angels. Links to other roundups and photos are down at the bottom of this post.
The whole event was alot of fun and despite the punishing hits some people took I saw nothing but smiles all day long. Although time needed to get ready for the next round got longer as the day went on. But I had alot of good feedback and several people indicated this should become an annual event so it will. Maybe the left will even grow a backbone and join us eventually. Now I just need a really good name for the event. The name Blog Wars is nice….but it doesn\’t compare to Foots MILF golfing event. Ideas anyone??
It was nice that we had a wide mix of skill levels. Some had played alot, although I was the only one with my own gear. Others had never played before. The differences between those two categories diminished greatly over the course of the day. The ultimate example of that was that in the final round of \”President\” when the two most seasoned vets had already been eliminated and had to watch as former Paintball virgin Learned Foot snuck up on, ambushed and killed the opposing teams President.
Definitely the most interesting rounds were the \”President\” rounds. I had played a variation of it at other fields in the past, but this field put a new spin on it we tried. Basically you have two teams, the smaller team designates a \”President\”. The President is unarmed, and if he dies, that team loses. The rest of the team is the Secret Service and they cannot be killed regardless of how many times they got hit and they have to stay within 15 feet of the President. The other team is the \”Terrorists\” and they can die. Goal is to get the President from one side of the field to the other alive. It\’s surprisingly difficult.
It\’s a good thing none of us are real Secret Service agents because the President died both times. The first time the Secret Service started running out of ammo and had to make a suicide run, during which the President got shot in the back twice. The second time, while the Secret Service fought and killed the main delaying force, an elite (aka rookie) terrorist, Learned Foot, snuck around behind them and painfully waited for his oppurtunity to shoot the President in the back.
It was rather interesting because it really revealed some of the true limitations of both sides. When I played the Secret Service I initially used bunkers and trees to shield myself until it sunk that I couldn\’t die. So I stood up the whole time and was able to better see what was going on and direct the other \”agents\” who weren\’t so willing to take the alarming number of hits I had to endure. But the point was I had a good understanding of the field of battle and where the lines of fire were.
However, when I played terrorist, myself and a friend were the first line of defense in what was ultimately a delaying tactic until our other teammates could sneak around behind them. It became very clear how much that visibility on the battle field helped. Often times I was pinned down by Secret Service fire without knowing exactly where they were. Both me and my teammate in the first line, were relatively marginalized. Our best hope was to delay them long enough before dying to give Learned Foot the chance to get behind them.
Lesson learned….even in paintball, intelligence and communication is key.
Other round ups include
Uncle Ben (he has photos and even gives me the MVP award)
Noodles
Bell
Mall Diva