We arrived at the paintballing site, which was within a farm with woodland areas. Teas and coffees were provided by way of a "brew area" which meant it was free and we could have them whenever we liked - this was a good feature. We were distributed our gear (camouflage boiler suit, face mask, woolen gloves), changed and attended the all important safety briefly. It was stated clearly, no less than twice, that the paintballs travel at over two hundred feet per second. Once we were in the "live area", if we were to lift up our masks to desteam the goggles or for any other reason then we would be putting our eyes at risk. Eyes turn to mush when hit with paintballs and apparently it can even head a bit further back than your eye too! We were assured that the paintball always wins in this scenario.
After the safety briefing the day went really quickly. The format of the games was a twenty minute duration, with the first ten minutes being open play - you could get shot and return to base to respawn, then the final ten minutes being if you're shot you're dead scenario. First game I did well, and managed to slow down a bit after firing off my first 200 paintballs within ten minutes (we were given 500 for the day and could buy extra). I took out four people before flanking very wide and then coming up on the enemy base from behind. Nobody seemed to be about until I got very close to their base. Then I had a bit of a stand off with someone which ended with us both shooting each other simultaneously. I got hit directly in the face mask which resulted in a mouthful of paint and little plastic bits from the paintball shattering...nice. What I should have remembered at the time is that head shots don't count, so I should have stayed in the game rather than being knocked out.
The next game was more of the same (but with the teams swapping ends of the wood), but with me not doing quite so well this time. After being shot early on I flanked round again with someone from our team and we came back onto the enemy base, but unfortunately there were many of the blue team about and my life was over when I took a close range shot to the lower spine. This was a painful end to the game for me!
Third game was a different format set in the bunker complex. We were to defend the complex. Each member of our team had one life each as defenders whereas the attackers had infinite lives, so it was a case of holding off the attack for as long as possible. We held them off for sixteen minutes before they had got in our base and decoded the "bomb mechanism". Luckily I was shot in the gun, which avoided some pain on my part.
Fourth game was the same, but with our team on the attack. We didn't do so well and lost the game. I learned three things (spot the reference Jack Trodd) during this game. One, don't run through a heavily guarded area and do a hero dive by a wall only to find it is not covered but in the line of fire of a guard tower...for this I received an absolute pummeling and luckily after I'd taken about five hits one of the marshals got me straight out of there. Two, don't head into a dark tunnel in the enemy base while all your teammates are standing by the side...this was again greeted by another volley of bullets. Two shots to the head, one to the neck and other body shots. Three, I learned not to rely on teammates to actually try and rush the base - they were much more likely to hide behind objects while firing at the enemy.
It was a fun and painful day and I think everyone enjoyed it, including a few members of staff who joined us. My boots smelled a bit funky after being submerged in mud by the bunker; I expect it wasn't just mud.
See below photos (these are not from our day as we didn't have camera).
Bunker
Bunker
No comments:
Post a Comment