Wolf Creek, Star, NC  - March 22, 2008 

Wolf Creek Paintball (http://www.wolfcreekpaintball.com) is ‘presenting’ a scenario based on the 1994 Harrison Ford movie (oh yeah, it may have been a book too for those of you who do that whole reading thing. Paper books! How quaint!). What were we talking about? Oh yeah, Clear and Present Danger at Wolf Creek, 1 mile east of I-73/ hwy 220  in Star, NC. Star, NC is almost dead center of the state, so depending on where you are, there you go. The field only allows field paint, so get ready to pony up. There are no directions on the web site  to speak of (a few maps) and no information, at this time, on the scenario. There is a registration page. They were having a bit of technical difficulty with their site at the time of this writing but you could still pre-register. I interviewed field owner, Barry Lamonds, and he was very excited about the upcoming event, the new changes to the field and how they were continually improving the bunkers, buildings and experience. He expects 200-250 participants for Clear and Present Danger and given the response other fields have had with scenarios lately, they may very well get that many. I suggest you register early and show up early. You can also see their forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfcreekpaintball/

Details: 

• Fee: $25 prior to March 19th, $35 after that, registration includes all day air/CO2 and field fee
• Paintballs: $40 and up
• Game Starts: 10am
• Field Opens: 8:30am
• Phone: 910-576-1990 or 910-220-7184

I played at Children of Men at Wolf Creek last year and I have to tell you this is great field. It’s 80 some acres, heavily wooded,  has one of the best forts I’ve ever seen, a house to clear and a village. But it’s the woods that make it. The organizers last year handled the 80-100 players well, kept things organized, and even a had a medic tent  set up with a real doctor to handle real world injuries. Bring your own chairs and I would even suggest your own food and be prepared to have a great time.

New Domain Name!

We are now located at TangoAlpha².com! Originally, this blog was (and still is) at http://paintball.metheney.com, but that was a problem to spell out on the paintball field for players. Pass the word!

NC Tactical, Clemmons NC   - Mar. 1 2008

In the early 1940’s just before Battle of the Bulge the Nazi’s New their reign was coming to an end soon, some of the gold that was looted from the countries the Nazi’s concurred suddenly disappeared, along with some 3 billion counterfeited British and US notes. One of the high ranking Nazi’s ordered the gold and money to be hidden in small cache’s along with the counterfeit printing presses, when the allies got wind of this they new it was time to act and deal the Nazi’s a financial blow to help end the war.

Phase one:

• 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
• Establish a base to house the gold and other riches
• Find the gold
• Defend your stronghold and the contents

Read more

I was playing at X-Treme Tactical Paintball in Waxhaw this weekend (2-23-08) and learned a hard lesson of checking my equipment just before the game. Ow.

Read more

Apr. 26 - Stargate Atlantis Theme Day at Line of Fire Paintball in Mills River, NC (http://www.lofpb.com/).

Read more

 Mar. 15 - St. Patrick / Easter Special (Easter Bunny Vs. Leprechaun) at Line of Fire Paintball in Mills River, NC (http://www.lofpb.com/).

Read more

Why not have anything here about speedball?

Because speedballers are punks! I’m just kidding. Some of the best woodsballers I’ve seen are also speedballers. This site is about woodsball because I play woodsball, So you might say, “Paul, is that because you’re old and fat and speedball is geared more for the fast and young?” And to that I might say “Bite me.” Okay, you COULD be right. Actually that is part of it. The main reason I play woodsball is the difference between the two types of paintball. Speedball has some strategy and a lot of teamwork, but is focus on running (ergo the name “Speedball”, Captain Obvious!) and throwing tons of paint in a very short time at the other guys. Woodsball (or scenario paintball) is has running and can occasionally involve high rates of fire, but I believe it should be less about high speed and shooting fast than speedball. There is a lot of crossover. Then again it could just be that I’m fat and don’t like to run.

Key Features of SUCCESSFUL Scenario Paintball

• Strategy - planning, enemy information, execution of plan, psychological warfare
• Teamwork - communication, communication, communication, mutual respect and chain of command
• Tactics - how you assault a bunker, team formations, how you move, etc.
• Stealth - part of tactics, but important enough to rate its own category, camouflage, stalking, patience, etc.
• Aggression - fearlessness, outrageousness, keeping the enemy on the defensive, doing the unexpected, moving, moving, moving
• Firepower - not nearly as important as gun manufacturers would like you to believe but there are times when hammering the hell out of the enemy with a sustained high rate of fire doesn’t suck.

Here’s how to win at scenario paintball:    do the unexpected.

You laugh. Sounds like common sense doesn’t it. You’d be amazed at how doing something completely off the wall can impact the outcome of a game. I’ll give you an example.

Unexpected Ambush #1

This week, one of the first games we played was an ambush style game. The Green team (mine) was supposed to go out into the woods, anywhere we wanted, and lay in wait. The Blue team would then search and destroy. Or so they thought. I hate playing ambush. I would much rather be on the move and hunting than sitting still and waiting for the enemy to come to me. But it’s part of the game. I had been thinking about this particular field during the week and how much I hated to ambush and came up with a plan that was so crazy and suicidal that I volunteered myself to try it and if it didn’t work, I would be the one to take the pummeling from the other team.

Read more

Imagine how much your paintball game would improve if you could read your team mates minds. Picture being to able know where they see the enemy positions or if they need help.  You can. This Italian guy, Guglielmo Marconi (curiously enough, not a paintball player) made it possible in 1895 when he invented…      wait for it…    you guessed it… the radio.

Before you drop the big money on that fully auto, super-modified, monster gun with the holographic night vision scope, drop $20-$50 or more on a two-way radio (walkie talkie).  With this simple “upgrade” you can improve your game ten fold. Every top pro will tell you communication is the key to developing a winning team. Why use hand signals when you can simply and clearly tell your teammates exactly what you want them to know. Remember the human eye is attracted by motion, so the same hand signal that you could be trying to semaphore your team with, could be drawing the eye of your enemy.

Here are some key points to effective radio communication…

Read more

Bounding is a simple but critical maneuver for two or more players on the same team. Surprisingly, many beginner players have no clue about this move, one of the most basic in paintball.

• The idea is for the front man (Player A) to get into some cover or a firing position
• and hold and either lay down cover fire or simply cover the advance of his team mate (Player B)
• while Player B ”bounds” or performs a leapfrog movement to a position in the lead of the first player.
• Player B now protects Player A while he bounds up from behind to a forward position.

Done properly, this maneuver can be quick, fluid and smooth as two players can move up through enemy territory while under the protective eye of his team mate The basic military sniper motto is “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” Yeah, I know it doesn’t make any sense. Until you see it in action. Remember, that the human eye tracks on movement, so when stalking through the woods, you don’t necessarily want to move fast. When hunting the enemy, sometimes slow and steady is the way to go.

• Don’t move in a straight line.
• No jerky movements.
• Keep spread out so you can “land” with angles of fire should you come up on the enemy.  This also gives you a greater field of fire to both left and right.
• Don’t bunch up. Keep at least 10 yards between you while moving to have a greater field of fire and to keep from being a grouped target.

By using “bounding” you can move forward aggressively and with protective cover fire.