Tag Archives: Paintball

Blast Camp Paintball

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October 8, 2005

Blast Camp

‘Nuff said.

OK, OK, maybe there’s more to say. Like it was a bunch of fun. But you knew that. I should say that my still camera gave up the ghost that morning, so I was unable to take regular pictures. And I am too lazy to go through the video and make still captures.

But this year we introduced the “gun cam”, a small camera placed above the barrel of our own DarthGoat’s marker. And Thom takes a header, complete with face-plant-feet-in-the-air. It’s classic.

 

Paintball Part Deux

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Based on a True Story

We have been having so much fun at paintball that we decided to head out to Indiana for the second time this year. Blast Camp was once again the site of the chaos.

Players only managed to shoot the camera twice this time, both in the same game. Somehow in the Fog of War a 400-pound guy in an orange shirt looks just like the other team…

Paintball!

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April 17, 2004 saw Chicago Force return once more to Blast Camp for a day of paintball fun. The paintball gods smiled down from on high and we had excellent weather for the third year in a row. Blast Camp is an excellent field, and Chicago Force thanks them for their courteous treatment, professional attitude, and for building a damn fine paintball field.

We didn’t have quite as many turn out this time, only 16, but everyone there had a blast, from the grizzled veterans down to newest of the newbies who had never touched a paintgun before that morning.

We were graced by representatives from the Quad City Jedi Order and the Indy Knights. Thanks for making the trip out, guys!

It was such a good time that plans are being made to turn paintball into a bi-annual event, with the next session possibly in September. Stay tuned to Chicago Forc Web for details.

Pre-Game

The Octagon

Intermission

The next game we played was “Downed Rebel Pilot”. The Rebels had to escort the downed pilot to a safe area, while the Empire tried to kill him. Getting the pilot out or keeping him safe for a set period of time won for the Rebels, eliminating the pilot won for the Empire.
As I played the role of the pilot, there are no pictures of this game. One team successfully kept me hidden in a corner, while the other team made a bold move to get me out. And it would have worked, too, if I wasn’t so fat and lazy.
Anyway, in all the rolling around on the ground, I thought I lost my car keys. So there are no pictures of the next games, as I spent an hour combing the grass for my ride home. Turns out Dave had them in his pocket the whole time.

The Berm

Balls to the Wall

Speedball

The Embassy

The Wound Gallery

Paintball 2003

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On September 20, 2003, Chicago Force had it’s Second Annual Paintball Extravaganza! OK, maybe it wasn’t ‘extravagant’, but it was a great day for paintball. Not too cold, not too hot, nice and sunny.

There was a good turn-out, with 27 people showing up to shoot Hawk…er, to play a rousing game of paintball. And how about those Star Wars scenario games, eh? Boy, we really hyped those didn’t we? That was going to be a lot of fun, we’re a Star Wars group, we’re playing paintball, we should play Star Wars paintball games…

Well, they sucked. I admit it, they didn’t work at all. Not even a little bit. In retrospect, I think I was making the rules too complex, and in the heat of ‘combat’, the fewer rules you have to remember the better. Also, there was a bit of friction with the management (we don’t need to go into that now; it’s a quality field, run by professional people, but everyone has their bad days), and we were only able to try one scenario: the Geonosis Arena. It seemed that the material I chose to make the ‘impenetrable’ Jedi lightsabers out of…well, let’s just say that paintballs went right through it. The armor of the AT-ATs was the same stuff, even if we would have been able to use them. The moral of the story is either keep the rules simple, or stick to tried-and-true paintball games.

That’s not to say that we didn’t have a good time. Everyone that I talked to whole-heartedly gave the day a thumbs up. Blast Camp is a great field, and Nate was an excellent ref. He was able to keep a rowdy group in check and had some great games for us to play.

Most of the post-game talk was along the lines of “Can’t wait until next year!”, and I think it’s safe to say that Chicago Force will be back at Blast Camp on the third weekend of September, 2004. Who knows, we may even drag along some Trekkies to shoot at.

Have I talked enough? You just want to see the pictures already? OK…

Chicago Force Paintball 2002

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On September 22, 2002, Chicago Force went on their first paintball outing. It was a perfect day for paintball, a little cloudy in the morning and in the mid-60’s, clearing up by midday to be a gorgeous, sunny Sunday.

12 Chicago Forcers made it out: Matt “Darth Astuart” Springer, Dave “Bosh Talk” Gray and friend Ed, Ray “Rex Karrde” Bosques and friend Hector, Phil “Mos Eisleian Radio” Salomon, Mark “Jodo Kast” Franklin and friend Bien, Mary “Amber Eyes” and son Mike, Tom “TomTav” Tavrides, and Matthew “Hazmatt” Callison.

Everyone had a lot of fun, and there was talk floating around of making this an annual or semi-annual event, so stay tuned to Chicago Force Web. There was a lot of paint traded by both teams, with the group going through 5000 paintballs during the day. Yes, they sting when you get hit, but it’s certain there was more pain the following day, when little-used muscles made their presence known to the owner.

Finally, a very big thank you to Blast Camp Paintball and our ref, Whisler. The facilities were top-notch and the staff was organized and professional, creating a fun environment with zero delays. Good job Blast Camp!

Now, on with the evidence….

Meeting up at Huck Finn’s

The first order of business was to meet up in the morning to caravan out to Blast Camp. We chose Huck Finn’s Donuts on the corner of Damen and Archer.

Yes, everyone stared at us because of the way we were dressed
Bosh gets the BIG doughnut
“And I’m going to shoot YOU in the head.”

Before the Battle

We played at Blast Camp near Hobart, Indiana, about 40 miles south-east from Chicago.

Ray, on the way to the field
Smile for the birdie!
The troops prepare for combat.

CENTER COLLAPSE

Waiting for the whistle
Game on!
View of the courtyard
The teams gather at the field
Whisler explains the rules
The long walk
Ray gets to the center octagon first
Dave defends the backfield
Bien provides cover-fire while Mike storms a building
Matt tries to get an angle
Bien holds the building
Mike and Bien
“Stop shooting, I’m already hit!”
Tom scopes out the field
Ed, Matt and Dave prepare to attack
Tom tries to keep his head down
Ed moves into position with Dave covering
Mark falls down, Take One
Mary gets in on the action
Mary shoots her son
Hector and Ed move up the field
Dave checks his position
Mark rushes the center
Mark falls down, Take Two
Game over, re-group and change sides
Game on!
Dave takes control of a building
Dave kneels before Zod
Ed advances through the building
Hey, don’t shoot the cameraman!
Tom trades paint with Ed
Bien gets eliminated
Mike poses for the camera
Bien gets resurrected and moves out
Ray waits at the resurrection point to make a break for it
Mark falls down, Take Three
Ray takes the middle
Mark moves around to help Ray
Ed guards the entrance
Nice shot of Matt’s butt
Dave stays in the building too long and is taken out of the game
Hector sneaks up on Ray in the middle
Hector eliminates Ray
Final push at the end of the game
Mary wonders if it’s safe
Ray pushes deep into enemy territory
Back to the staging area to reload
FARP (that’s military-talk for “Fuel-Ammo Resupply Point”)
This is a tired bunch ‘o’ people, and it’s only about noon
“And then I snuck around this corner and…”
Hazmatt’s custom Tippmann Carbine
We never figured out what this was, we were shooting WHITE paint
Ready for the next game
Whisler, our fantastic ref

PROTECT THE PRESIDENT

The name of this game is “Protect the President”. This is a 15 minute game where one person is selected as “The President” and one person is assigned to guard them. They go deep in the field and hide, then everyone else has 15 minutes to find them. We voted for Matt to the be the President and Dave to be the bodyguard.

The action in this game was fast and furious and the brush was thick, so not much of the action is covered. Just use your imagination and think of your favorite Vietnam movie.

Whisler leads Matt and Dave to the field
Whisler explains the rules. He did forget to tell them about the 3 hardened bunkers, unfortunately.
Matt and Dave head deep into the “bush”
Here comes the hunting party
Whisler explains the rules
Shhhh! Be vewy quiet, their hunting wabbits
“Nope, they’re not behind this bush.”
Mark heads in after his prey
And it’s over

`

SPEEDBALL

The name of this game is “Speedball”. This is a 10 minute game where there is one flag in the middle. The object is to get the flag and take it down to your opponents goal. This is a game that is often played in paintball tournaments.

Speedball is called that for a reason: it’s fast. Normally, if you are behind a bunker for more than 20 seconds, you’re dead. Despite the 10 minute time limit, most games are done in less than 5 minutes.

Heading to the field
Orange takes their place
Yellow takes their place
“3..2..1..Game on!”
Ray rushes and is first to the flag, but gets pinned down
He calls for covering fire
Ray covers Bien as he moves up
Matt keeps Ray from advancing
Bien moves up to assist Ray
Hector takes a shot at Ray
Tom lets it fly to keep Hector contained
Ray moves up within striking distance of the goal
Bien watches Ray hang the flag
New game, switch sides
Game on!
Boy, that’s a good lookin’ paintgun
Ed rushes the center and gets the flag
Dave looks for someone to shoot
Ed tucks the flag away and unknowingly drops it
Gun hits count, and this is all you have to expose to get eliminated
Matt watches Ed get eliminated and decides to make a run for the flag
Ed checks to make sure he is really hit
Mary covers Matt as he runs for it
Mark tries to shoot Matt to no avail
Mark makes his own run for the flag
Mark pops up to get Matt and is promptly shot in the forehead
Matt makes it to where Ed was hit, but the flag’s not here…
Matt braves the fire one more time to run back and pick up the flag
This is why auto-focus cameras don’t always work. Matt hangs the flag while we get a good shot of Dave’s head.
Everyone checks their paint supply

THE AFTERMATH

Out of paint, we decide to call it a day
The final walk off the field
Ray shows off his battle scars
More wounds
As good as it was, we’re glad to be done
It was a glancing blow, but it’s gotta hurt
“Do you want to see my hiney?”
Matt caught more than one at close range
That was fun. Let’s go home.
We stop to have BK our way
We need red meat and grease to combat all that exercise we just got
Ray asks, “Wanna wrestle?”
Looks like we over-loaded the cook
Ah, now to the grub
Ray on the way home
Must be contagious