Special Ops Paintball Hosts Big Game Scenario

April 14, 2007

Here is how "General-ing" a Big Game Scenario went from one General's perspective. 

Team Desert Edge was asked to not only split our force in-two, but also General each side.  Jake "Silentfoe" Weber and I accepted the job to be the Generals.  Jake got the Red team and I got the Yellow team.  Before the event started, we agreed on a few things, such as a break time for lunch in the middle of the day, as well as drawing balls from a hat for the Desert Edge players, so they would be fairly and equally divided.  Just before the start of the game I had to run to my car to grab my marker.  I gathered the D.E. players together to draw balls for teams, and I said I would be right back with my gun.  When I came back, There was no Desert Edge to be found.  Jake had taken them all.  I was lucky enough to round up Mark "Kavaman" Barrett, but the rest were long gone.   

Aside from being Super flustered about losing my team, Most the yellow team was scattered all over the place with no time to organize a game plan.  Obviously my fault.  Just as I got to our re-spawn area, the horn blew, everyone ran, and the chance to relay a plan was long gone.  Right off the break, the Red team had 4 flags with Yellow capturing one.  It remained this way for the majority of the first half of the game.   

Even with all the negatives I was able to find about how this game started, I knew there must be something positive.  It didn't take long for me to find what it was.  One cool thing about this game was, there were no extra points for eliminating a commander/general.  Because of that, I did all I could to get all over the field, so I could know where the bases were, and what our week spots were.  I must have been eliminated 8 times in the first half of the game.  But not only did I get to learn the field fast by running around as much as I could, but I found the true beauty of the dead box.  There in our re-spawn area, I talked a lot with the other players of my team and got their opinions about what was happening in the different areas.   

It was easy to see, the thing that set us back so much was the fact that we lacked everything the Red Team had.  FLAGS!  If we had just taken possession of more flags right at the start, the game would have been completely different.  So when the refs announce "Game on in 15 minutes" Your team should already be in your re-spawn zone to be discussing your plan.  Just before the break, we managed to take one more flag, but there wasn't enough time to really get many points out f it.  Then came the time for the break.  I didn't think it would come soon enough. 

Lucky for me, Jake and I agreed to set the flags back to neutral at the break.  During lunch I had to confront Jake about where my fellow Desert Edge guys went.  "What ever happened to meeting up and drawing balls?" I asked in a really frustrated tone.  He replied with a smirk, "We drew balls.  I only put one color in the hat though."  I couldn't keep from laughing.  However, I still swore vengeance in my mind. 

With about 15 minutes before game was to resume, I made sure this time that the Yellow Team was ready to proceed with a plan.  As we all shuffled in the tent, I presented my plan.  "There are 5 bases.  Two of them are easy for us to get off the break.  We will divide into 2 squads.  One squad sprints to the North-West base, and turn it yellow.  Once we own that base, leave 5-6 players to defend, and send the rest of your squad slowly up the east perimeter to take the swing base which will be Red at first.   Let me know when you take that base.  The other squad will focus on the center flag.  I will pull that flag in the first 5 seconds of the game, but I need a crap-load of paint to fly across the clearing to their base.  Once we control that flag, we will leave 6-7 guys to long-ball the guys and keep them from approaching the clearing to the center flag.  The rest of my squad will creep across the West perimeter to see if we can take the Southern flags.  Communication is key, so let me know when you own each base, so we can adjust the timing of our assault based on when you move forward. 

The horn blew.  I ran down the hill and took the center flag and bounced back to our tree-line.  "So far, so good" I whispered in my mask.  Even though the Red Team would inevitably get three flags from the start, and we would only have two, I knew we would have the advantage with the size of squads we were sending along the perimeters.  Typically the first half of the game the Red Team was spread pretty evenly around the field.  That worked fine sense they had almost all the bases, all they had to do was defend them.  About one minute into the second half of the game we controlled the North-West Flag.  My squad bunkered down to wait for the call from the other squad before making our push up the West perimeter.  About 40 minutes later, I got the call, "T-Bone, the swing base on the hill is now Yellow."  I asked how many of our guys were up there, but got no response.  Frustrated, I repeated my question, but got no response.  I told the rest of my squad to sit tight and hold them off the clearing.  I took 2 guys down to the North end of the trenches so we could see what the other squad was up against.  I was surprised to see that half our players were eliminated, but we had much superior field positioning as we were now shooting down the hill at the other team.  I asked for cover fire from the guys on the hill as I ran up against the hill just below their re-spawn zone.  I hugged that hill as tightly as I could as I crept my way South.  I knew there were at least 3 Red guys trying to flank the East perimeter, but my guys on the hill couldn't see them.  They were so busy working their way through the brush, I don't think they had any idea I was approaching as close as I was.  I pulled my marker up and took aim.  Just as I was about to pull the trigger, I noticed another player just above me on the hill to the West.  I knew in order for me to take all 4 players out, I needed to be closer to the original 3 flankers.  I crept up another 20 feet, and unleashed a swarm of paint eliminating all 3 flankers and I quickly turned to the guy above me on the hill.  He got me in the chest, but I was shocked the he wasn't out too.  I shouted "Are you out Dakota?" I knew who he was because he is one of the Desert Edge Junior players.  He must have not heard me because he never replied, he just turned and raised his gun and headed toward the Red re-spawn zone.  I sighed with relief.  I felt okay about being eliminated after taking out 3 of their guys, but I felt much better taking out 4.  I ran up the hill to the Yellow re-spawn zone.   

There were about 25 of our guys there. and we had about 5 minutes until re-spawn.  Now was the time to initiate the next phase of the plan.  Most of my squad was still alive holding the Reds back from the clearing.  So I sent about 16 guys to reinforce the east perimeter.  I took the rest of what was in the tent along with all but 7-8 of the live guys of my squad up the West perimeter.  We all spread out about 8-15 feet apart as we slowly sweeped our way South, down the perimeter.  It took about 5 minutes to get to the first flag.  We took out the 4 guys holding that flag, and I died again.  I ran back to my tent as quickly as I could to make sure I could come back out at the re-spawn.  Things were looking great.  There were only about 5 Yellows in the re-spawn zone.  I took them all with me.  As we hurried our way to meet up with the group I just left, We saw that both South flags were flying Yellow.  We now controlled all 5 flags and surrounded the Red re-spawn 360 degrees.   

Now that we completely controlled the field I decided to ease off, and take a seat up on the West hill.  The scenery was great from this spot as you could see about 50 percent of the action.  I could see completely across to the East hill where we had about 7 guys in a fox hole type bunker that had been picking Red guys off for the last hour, which had been a major factor in controlling the East side of the field.  I then saw a group of about 4 Reds somehow work their way up the hill just below the fox hole guys.  Time slowed down as I saw one of the Red players wind up in perfect Larry Bird form and released a huge hook shot toward the fox hole.  The F-Bomb floated in a perfect rainbow arch and landed right in the middle of the fox hole.  Although the toss eliminated 7 or more Yellow players, I jumped as I told the ref, "That was the coolest Grenade throw I have ever seen".  The Red Team managed to take back a flag, but I still sat back as I knew our come back was more than enough to recover the score detriment we had in the first half.  I got a pat on the back by my friend, team-mate, and opposing general as he told me "That was an amazing come back." 

It was a fun challenge of organizing a group of around a hundred strangers as effectively as we did.  I think what made our team such a success was mainly humility.  Nobody ever shot down the plan.  The groups did what they were told, and did it effectively.  With each assault group that ventured out from time-to-time, I assigned a guy to lead that group in their assault.  That way, even if I wasn't there, the group was LEAD.  When there is no question or  jealousy of where the orders are coming from, the plan is executed much more effectively.  Plus I think the team appreciated the communication we had before we would call out a particular game plan.  The plan was the group's plan, not mine.  I just put the plan in force by using what I both saw and heard from the other players.   

The game was a ton of fun.  The game really showed how a company can show true respect for the Paint Ball community as the event was free!  They gave away free paint, air, food, T-shirts, magazines, and tons more very valuable gear.  Thanks Special Ops for the opportunity to be involved with a great event, and also for putting on an event that is so inviting for beginner and expert players alike.

Story by Tim "T-Bone" Saunders

Tim was voted Event MVP for this event.