BR Sports, formerly Black River Paintball, hosted “Valor vs. Venom” Saturday, August 16th, to a packed crowd of serious action junkies. The game pitted the forces of G.I. Joe versus the nefarious Cobra in the ongoing battle of Good vs. Evil. The field, located in Fayetteville (actually ON Fort Bragg property), saw 450+ players fight off the summer heat and the opposing army with everything they had… and then some.

Suited for Snakes

The game was action packed but seemed, from the start, to be lopsided toward the Cobras.(Translation: There were more Cobra teams out there than you can shake your mongoose at.) Most of the major Carolina teams had opted to fight for the forces of evil and this left the Joes with the majority of the walk-ons and non-team players. (I’m not saying their were a LOT of great Cobra players out there, but when I took off my camo at the end of the day, two Cobra snipers crawled out of it as well.) There are plenty of great non-team players, but the problem is the word “team”. Organized groups will beat non-organized (even skilled) individuals every time. It also seemed as if the average age of the Joe team seemed a bit younger than the age of the Cobras and the lack of experience in military teamwork showed as the Cobras simply out-played the Joes for the majority of the day.

Marketing So Good It Hurts

Unlike some recent games (Can you say “Army of Ten”? I think you can!), BR Sports was very successful in its marketing of the event and attracted more people than they were really ready for. This was their first time producing an event (even though they hosted events before) and they had made arrangements with PCS to give away free camouflage to every player who pre-registered (green digital for the G.I. Joes and urban digital for the Cobras) and each member of the winning army would receive a FREE PCS US5 marker (similar to an A5). The combination of prizes was an overwhelming success and players flocked to the game to plunk down their $45 to get these great prizes. When I say “overwhelming” I am not just whistling out my blow hole here. The lines for signing up, buying your paint, getting your free uniform and chronoing were staggering. This was probably the single most common complaint of all the players. Even though the lines were long, to BR Sports’ credit, the game only started a half hour late (and they very cooly ran it an extra hour to make up for the delay). But with the delays, some of the pre-teen players were eligible for college midterms by the time they got to chrono! Which wouldn’t have been so bad except I was able to ask for an AARP discount on my registration.

Shoot Everywhere! You’ll Hit Something!

The game was extremely action packed and God help the fool who walked around the tall cover into enemy gun sights as the closest re-insertion point was probably at the other end of the 80 acre field. It was a typically hot, muggy summer day in the Carolinas and between that, high-stepping the brush-hogged undergrowth, and the long walk to reinsertion, everyone I know was exhausted at the end of the day. The re-insertion hike beat me like Tanya Harding with a pipe! And I’m not even as pretty as Nancy Kerrigan!

Notable teams included: the East Coast Executioners, Black Knights, Team: Tango Alpha2, Team SNAFU, E.P.I.C. Unit, Shadow Vipers, Team Boxer, Satan’s Escort Service, Team Rats, Port City Militia, Shadow Group, Brute Force, SSK, Gun Kings, Southern Discomfort, The 1337, and the Buffet Bullies. The Cobra Commander was Robert “Spectere” Flowers of the Carolina Sabers and the G.I. Joes were led by
Lew “Canis Major” Ashmore of the Black Knights. (Sorry if we missed anyone. Next time, come up to our canopy and introduce yourselves and we will be sure and get your name in.)

Award for Most Valuable Player for Cobra went to Matt of Shadow Vipers. MVP for the G.I. Joe team went to Allen “Scarface”. Most Valuable Team for Cobra was Brute Force and MVT G.I. Joe was the Impaler Kids. Matt Fried gets a special commendation for taking out the G.I. Joe general in some sort of play (seems to be some confusion about the details, but young Mr. Fried still pulled a nice tactic off no matter how you look at it.) Awards were actual trophies which was a nice touch.

The Overshot

It was a good game with unbelievably great prizes. BR Sports did well for a first time venture in producing a big game, even with the few hiccups of long lines and too much success. Kudos to Allen, Pappy and the rest of the gang at BR Sports for such a great spin on marketing a game and attracting players. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.