Just letting any Gunfighters know, I will be making the trip to Indiana for this event, so if anyone decides last-minute they want to play, let me know and we can work out camping or driving details. Hope to see another Gunfighter there!

What a fun & exhausting weekend!

This scenario game originally started out as a different game altogether. From it's original inception almost two years ago, this was slated to be the matchup of "T" vs. "TB". As far back as January, it looked like it was possible that Jason & I might even have a few extra people coming with us as well. Fast-forward to the end of April and everything had changed. "TB" had stepped down and Eric Engler had stepped up to the unenviable task of taking over what remained of the Judges side. Jason couldn't make it (there in spirit though). I left work on friday afternoon, headed for my first big-scenario game solo. I arrived friday evening with enough time to set up camp and greet some of the new Team WOW members, and catch up with a few old faces as well. Kool-Aid had run with us back at Factory Paintball a few years ago, and had just owned me in the snake that day. For some, this would be their first big scenario game.

Saturday morning as I was gearing up in the Team WOW camp, "T" made a cell phone call. "He's on his way." About an hour later, Gunfighter DogHouseDan showed up! Rock on brother! Let's get this party started. As the game began, we headed from our South base towards the castle with Old Dog & his Delta Squad & met some resistance, but pushed forward. Taking the castle, we pressed on towards the road. One of our goals was to take their base. A few hours later, we did just that. This was my third time running as a Medic for "T", so my main job was running behind the lines and darting to the front whenever possible to keep our guys in the game. That made for a LOT of running. About two hours before the dinner break, we over-ran the Judges base. Word from "T" came over the radio: "Pull back, don't let them have a hot-insertion!" I took this opportunity to dig myself into a rather unique & extremely overlooked spot on the field just near their base and hunker down. As the Judges side retook their base, I reported back to our base on the enemies troop movements. I learned from my mistake last year and set my watch to the game-clock and waited. My personal mission: To drop their base and try to scratch one of their missions. Knowing they would have a mission called in at around the top of the hour, I listened for any sounds of life at their base. Hardly any. I ripped off my Red armband tape. At 3:55 I made my move, darting out and running past a camera-man (Who I've since found out was a Blue player in plain clothes posing as a camera-man taking pictures! Nice work! Still trying to find out who that was...) I ran right into the enemy base, past a completely puzzled Blue player and set a foot into the command tent and declared, "ALL DEAD!" YES! I set my marker on the ground and entered the command tent, looking around I see their log-book and radio. I look at my watch, 3:56. "Maximal to base, come in" ... "This is base, go ahead" .. "I am in the enemy base, repeat, I am in the enemy base, over."

Peppermint Patty of InContempt replied back: "Copy. See if you can find anything, over." I start looking around... no props anywhere. The place was clean. I look at my watch. 3:57. Still nothing on the enemy radio. I see their log-book. I start flipping through. "Maximal to base, I can confirm, four enemy missions have been scratched, over." 3:58 I am kindly informed by the head Ref, I can NOT be in the netted enemy command tent. GET OUT. I comply, stating I was under the reasoning that it was legal to answer the enemy radio, should you take their base, which I did. I look at my watch. 3:59. Enemy reinsertion in less than sixty seconds. Someone, I can't remember who, says "dude, you better run like hell" With about 45 seconds before insertion, I say goodbye to the ref and run back towards the other side of the field like my butt is on fire. I tried sneaking up behind some Judges hoping I could barrel-tag a few, but a very eagle-eyed player spotted me & took me out. Looking back in hindsight, I should have just taken a ride on the pain-train and endured a hot-insertion and tried to slow them down. Oh well. Lesson learned for next time. (Still trying to get a solid answer on the EXACT rules pertaining to the command-tent. One of those grey areas that is still up for debate. But on the field you have to listen to the ref.)

Come to find out later that while all this was going on, Dan was handed a "We kindly regret to inform you that you've been killed by a sniper" card. Take it to heart Danno, you must have been kicking some kind of ass to be handed that, as each commander only had 2 or 3 to use ALL WEEKEND. And they used one of theirs on you on SATURDAY. That's a tip of the hat in my book!

We pretty much had most of the field under manageable control when the first break started. We started at the East side of the castle for the dinner battle, and off the break, I made it into the very center of the castle and got my first slap-stick! Now it was just trying not to get shot out. Which I did, with less than a minute left hopping out a window for a slap stick.

As the night game was getting ready to begin, I said goodbye to Dan, and headed for the field. Our side was just primed for the night game, I mean these guys were like a pack of hungry wolves. Within a half-hour, we had them trapped in the bowl, pinned to their base on the North side of the field. Like a tsunami of pain we just kept over running them and then pulling back. As we were about to take their base around 9:00 pm, "T" came over the radio: "Guys, pull back past the road, NOW! Let them have their base back!" Why? someone asked. "Because Viper will call the game now if we don't. Let's let some of these guys have a little bit of fun. Ease off." As it was, the night game was called at 10:00 pm. A far cry from last years 1:30 am. We heard rumors of the night game being in the neighborhood of 100 to 20 as far as numbers go. Not sure if that's true, but it must have felt like it for the Judges. The one upside to all this carnage was a nice early bedtime.

Gamebreak on Sunday, was a whole different game. The Judges must have drank their Red-Bull, because they came out fighting. I know I took some heavy hits running Medic. They really stepped up their game. On the plus side, Delta-Squad brought their tank, which kept Damage Inc. tied up for a good portion of the day. Lots of running, lots of welts, but a great day. On a side note, anything you've heard about Dave Cilio is true. The guy is a freaking animal. He is just on a whole different plane of existence. It was great fun to be able to play alongside him for a change and not be on the receiving end. In the end, we over-ran their base one more time for good measure in the final moments of the game.

Final battle came, and as usual, we fared OK, but not great. But by then the damage was done. Final Score: Total War 470 Judges 235

What a blast this game was. In closing:

Great fun & honest stand-up play
good reffing
Absolutely perfect weather
Hands-down, the BEST paintball field on the planet

What more could you ask for in a big-game scenario?

-Maximal

Just a heads up, I've uploaded some pictures to the Gunfighters MySpace page. For the most part, it's just the few pictures that contain myself, Dan & a few others. Gather from Team WOW & a fellow from Reflex photography took over 1500 photos of the entire weekend, which is WAY to many to try to upload. You can find the links to Reflex photography's site here:

http://www.reflexphotography.net/gallery/8111073_fc745/1/528756429_feL3d#528756429_feL3d