I measure how successful a day of paintball is by how much fun you have. Today was very successful. Playing at what seems to becoming my home field, X-treme Tactical in Waxhaw, we had a blast!  First, the field was loaded.  At any given moment, we had 50+ players on the field, divided into 25+ player teams. A couple of refs had called in sick and Joseph and Jonathan, a couple of regular players, and myself, volunteered to help out with reffing duties (great job guys!) and that actually added to some of the fun.  Click Read More for pictures… Read more

Woodsball is essentially simulated military combat. Great military efforts are coordinated, tactical assaults made possible by honed skills, communication, and cooperation.  Hard to do by yourself. If you ever wanted to be on a scenario paintball team, now is your chance. There are two opportunities to play as part of group and have some fun in team environment. Ghost Company and Temp Team tango are now recruiting! Click Read More for details. Read more

Just to prove that we are completely unbiased in our reviews, we will go so far as to shine the bright light criticism at our own team’s performance at Wolf Creek’s recent Clear and Present Dangerpaintball scenario.  As an unofficial, ‘non-team’ we decided to throw together a number of weekend warriors, who had played together before on various fields, for a common, unified goal, you know…   protecting my old, fat ass. Our ad hoc little team had suffered some last minute cancellations due to the game landing on the Easter holiday weekend. We lost about two thirds of our non-team due to family and travel obligations, as if family and religion were more important than paintball! Some people just need to get their priorities on straight! Clear and presently accounted for was Jason “Foolybear” Lineberger, “Camo Ken” Helfing, Paul “Bubbaloo” Metheney, and Daniel “Radio” Amos (see photo from left to right), all of which had traveled from 80 - 230 miles to be there. Read more

 We played at Children of Men at Wolf Creek  (located 1 mile east of I-73/US Hwy 220, in Star, NC) last year and then again at Clear and Present Danger this year and it’s one of the best fields I have seen.. 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. When the leaves are out, the camouflage is killer.

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The scenario game at Wolf Creek (Clear and Present Danger, March 22nd) was a huge success and a tremendous amount of fun. The only downsides I could see were that there were a couple of fairly serious ‘misunderstandings’ on the field about the rules (one about a bunker tag and one about re-insertions). Some tempers flared and the bunker tag issue almost came to blows, but afterwards, both parties openly and sincerely admitted their fault and shook hands.

There was a re-insertion issue that Temp Team Tango was actually involved in, and even though the written rules of the scenario vindicated us (later), we accepted their on-field call , didn’t argue with the refs, and moved on to the final battle. Both disagreements could have been better avoided by the producers more clearly and thoroughly communicating the rules of engagement in the pre-briefing.  Despite the fact that the refs made a mis-call on our issue, I was pleased with how professionally and quickly they resolved the issue. One of the truly under-appreciated aspects of a scenario is the level of work and calm it takes to referee 200+ testosterone-pumped players over an 80+ acre field and keep everything not only moving smoothly, but safely and fairly. Congratulations to Wolf Creek for a top-notch reffing staff!

I’d like to talk about the re-insertion incident a bit more in detail, not as a critique of Wolf Creek, but as a lesson to fields and players both. Read more

 Mix 220+ testosterone-filled combatants, high tech weapons and a drug-running, politically-charged scenario and what do you get? Well, it ain’t exactly an episode of American Idol! You get a fun-filled day of role playing paintball at Wolf Creek Paintball field for their first independent scenario, Clear and Present Danger. Based on the Harrison Ford movie and Tom Clancy book, Saturday, March 22nd, saw most of the North Carolina paintball teams descend on Star, NC for one of the best local area games around. Click “Read More” below to read a review of the scenario, a recap of Temporary Team Tango Alpha2’s experience, and suggestions on how we would have improved this already great day of paintball.

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 The United States Coast Guard cutter Panache intercepts a yacht in the Caribbean Sea, discovering two Latino males cleaning up after executing a man and his family. Through a mock execution, the Coast Guardsmen coerce the executioners to confess to the grisly murders. However, it is later learned that the murdered man was part of a money laundering scheme within the Medellin Cartel; upon further investigation, it is discovered he had laundered and embezzled approximately $650,000,000 in US Dollars. Read more

 A “bunker” can be any cover such as a wall, a building, a tree, or a barrier. Pretty much any obstacle that will keep you from getting hit by paint. “Cover” is a bunker that offers protection from enemy fire, like a thick tree. “Concealment” is protection from enemy eyes that may hide, but not necessarily protect you as Cover would, like smoke from a grenade or big leafy ferns. Hides you well, but not much ‘cover’. “Soft Cover” is cover that may deflect the shots and turn them into splatter or spray. Branches, brush and tall grass are typical soft cover. The enemy may see you, but the paintballs have a hard time getting through intact. The bad news is that if they hammer that soft cover with paintballs, one may eventually get through and the force of the paintballs will eventually wear a path through the soft cover.

March Update: We will be playing at Wolf Creek this Saturday, March 22^nd for their “Clear and Present Danger” scenario. The Easter holiday has decimated the ranks of our temporary team, but so far, our roster looks to be: “Camo” Ken Helfing, Jason “foolybear” Lineberger (notorious player and writer for Splat! Magazine), Chris “Killer” Dillard, Amos “I-Got-No-Nickname-Yet” and myself. We may be hooking up with Phantom Recon Ops (P.R.O.), the Palmetto Hills home team, pr at the very least coordinating with them heavily.

April Update: April 26^th will find many of us at Command Decisions, near Hickory, for their “Vietnam Patrol 2008 - Siege of Khe Sahn” scenario. Since this doesn’t fall on a holiday weekend, we have had quite a few players express some interest in our temp team playing this scenario. If you are intersted, let me know and we can get you signed up for pre-registration.

 Congratulations to Jason “Foolybear” Lineberger for signing a sponsorship deal with Archon Paintball products! Besides teaching college and high school, Jason is one of the most prolific writers and editors in the paintball industry. He has a regular How-To column for scenario  and a the “Strictly Scenario” blog for Splat! Magazine and was one of my inspirations in creating TangoAlpha2.com. Jason also edits and writes for PB2X.com as well as other publications and tours extensively reviewing fields and scenarios. Read more