05/30/2009 Allenspark:

I'll be posting a series of battle reports from my first year of paintball. Since it's already the start of 2010 and my first game was back in spring of 2009, I'll be posting the game dates in the titles.

My first paintball game ever. Invited by a friend. He told me to spot him for the cost of filling the CO2 cartridge, bring my own paint and he'd set me up.

Location was in Roosevelt National Forest right off the highway before Allenspark, CO. I was hooked up with mask, remote air system and a Smart Parts SP-1 (which I found out later is a really good gun). We then discovered that the Monster Balls I'd bought (which my friend claims usually work in his SP-1s) were deformed and wouldn't fit down the feedneck (don't worry - Wal Mart refunded me later). So I had to use some orange "Visible Impact" balls instead (which worked well all day).

There were fourteen of us - mixture of newbs and more experienced players. Very casual and friendly group. I missed the first game of capture-the-flag because my friend was busy getting me and another invitee set up with his gear.

Round 1: Capture the Flag

We faced-off from different sides of a wooded area. Object was to seize the enemy flag and run it back to your own flag area.

Scored my first two kills here. Most of my team moved to the valley on the left where they apparently started a hot firefight with most of the other team. I went the other way - circling the right flank with two or three other teammates. We soon encountered the opposing team. At this point most of my team started trading shots with the people defending the flag area. Some of them looked content to stay where they were.

This didn't look promising to me. So instead, I ran around to the right side. I didn't seem to attract any notice, and ended up flanking a girl shooting at my teammates (newb like me). She didn't notice me and I arc-ed fire into her blind-side. Kill one.

Pumped on adrenaline, I kept circling around. I came into an open space at full run, and almost got shot when another young kid guarding the flag spotted me. But he didn't move from his position under a pine tree where he was laying and I managed to arc my shots into him too. Kill two.

That cleared the flag area, and one of my teammates grabbed the flag and ran it back to our base.

Result Victory.
Deaths: 0
Kills: 2

Pros:
-I like flanking. It works really nice. I noted that people aren't as likely to shoot at you if you don't shoot at them.
-Crossfires are good. Better way to take someone out than just shooting at their front.

Cons:
-I was so pumped with adrenaline doing this for the first time I hyperventilated and tripped on a log and fell on my face. No harm done, but I felt like a goober.
-Also, I didn't coordinate with my teammates at all. I just ran ahead. I had supporting fire from my team distracting my first target. But after she went down, I ran on completely unsupported toward the flag zone and almost got shot for it. It was a good thing I was up against fellow newbs, since a couple vets might have had me for lunch.

Two kills and victory. I like this game!

Round 2: Vampire

Second game was called "Vampire." Everyone splits into two-man teams and everyone you shoot joins your side.

Me and my teammate started between two other teams we could see. We went for one of them and I think I might have managed a kill, but I can't remember, so I won't count it. My partner got another or two. Anyway - we ended up with two additions and we're good so far.

I knew another team was somewhere behind us, but decided to push on and engage another team further uphill. I think I mentioned a warning to my team that others were back there, but I wasn't very commanding about it, and I'm not sure people heard me.

I started running flank like before, and ran into nasty fire from two forward angles. I got pinned behind a large tree and tried to return fire. Things were really hot, and I went down on my belly to avoid being shot and hopefully manage to shoot back. My teammates were firing back as far as I could tell. Then I got nailed from 8 o'clock in the wrist and shoulder. That team who was lurking in our rear took the opportunity while we were pinned-down to shoot most of my team. Death #1.

After that, we ended up in a frontal slug-out with the team uphill we were trying to get in the first place. I provided fire too. I saw one of the guys in a white sweatshirt (note-to-self: don't wear a white sweatshirt in woodsball) standing at long range between the trees. Lots of branches in the way, but I shot at him anyway. Some of the rounds burst on the branches, but I eventually managed to guide them through a gap and pegged him square in the chest. Kill three.

Not much more to tell about this one since all further kills happened from other people and I was out of the main fight for most of it.

Deaths: 1
Kills: 1 (2?)

Pros:
-A dose of humility was a good balance about now.
-Bright orange balls are great for guiding your fire and making up for bad aim.
-My SP-1 was performing like a dream.

Cons:
-Tunnel vision. We didn't watch our six and we got totally flanked for it.
-Bad team communication. We should have had someone facing the other way guarding the back door.
-Going to ground under fire was a bad idea for me. It made me a bigger target for arcing fire and basically immobilized me. It also made it hard for me to look around. -Finally, I stuck my butt out too far in front of my teammates and the other team really let me have it.

Round Three: "President"

Next game, we played "President." Three invincible "Secret Service" agents on full auto-fire are to escort an unarmed "President" from point A to point B. Everyone else tries to kill the President.

I was on the assassins team. The ten of us split in half with one group taking right envelopment and the other left envelopment. Mine went right. I started out moving quickly forward trying to make contact with the enemy (I seem to stink at sticking with my team). I heard shots far off to the left, which must mean elements of that team have made contact.

Then I saw the President walking slowly between two trees at a crouch. He didn't see me. It was about the same range I pegged white sweatshirt guy, so I unloaded on him as fast as I could. He dove for cover and I missed him. Well, at least I know where they are...

I continued moving rapidly up the right flank, and again got far ahead of the rest of my team. There was now a full blown firefight going on to my left. I had a good idea where the target must be, so I started circling around to hit the rear. I came up over a rise, and there was the President crouching under a bush, watching the by-now really hot firefight in front of him. All three agents were trading fire, and nobody had seen me!

I ran up as fast as I could to within range, and unloaded on the President from about 40 feet. I hit him several times and he raised his hands. Kill 4!

Unfortunately, as soon as I started shooting, all three Agents whipped around and unloaded on me at full automatic. Since I was only standing behind a bush, I got pegged about three times. Death #2.

But it was too late. President was dead, and game over!

Result: Victory
Deaths: 1
Kills: 1

Pros:
-I shot the President!
-I am so sold on flanking and scouting by now.
-Big firefights in front make the way I play a heck of a lot easier. The big shootout my other teammates were conducting made my winning shot possible.
-This gun rocks.

Cons:
-I might have been too aggressive. The guy who played President was really annoyed afterward. He'd already been shot at by me once, and knew there were people back there. He'd warned his agents, and they still got completely committed in a firefight at the front and didn't guard the back-door. If his agents had been playing smart, I would never have had the opportunity, and with no fire support, I would have been either killed or neutralized pretty quickly. This aggressive crap is paying off big-time. But it's going to get me killed against a tougher defense.
-It would probably help if I could aim. I had a clear shot on the President, but since I have no aiming skills yet, I had to rely on tracer fire to guide the shots in, and he had time to dive for cover.
-I got so excited about the second clear shot on the President, that I totally exposed myself. I didn't even drop to one knee or anything before shooting. And the Agents sure made me pay for it. A bit of patience might have been in order there.

Oh well. I got the President! I am so stoked by now.

Round Four: Alamo

Next game is "Alamo." Five defenders defend the top of a hill covered in large boulders. The rest of the players attack and take them out.

I'm a defender. We position three guys on the left guarding the more direct route and me and another guy defending the more roundabout right flank. I take a forward position looking over the forest below where I can see a lot of approaches. We sit quiet for a while before I spot people moving through the trees in front. Others report some movement to the left as well. I see a guy walking along the forest floor at long range (longer than my first President shot or white sweatshirt guy), and I open fire on him. Nothing comes close to hitting him. But I'm sure a lot of people know where I am now.

Sure enough, I start taking fire from my right. Someone has circled around over there, and is arcing shots into the shallow rock bowl I'm hiding in. I try to shoot back, but I'm kinda pinned down. Then shots start arcing in from my forward left as well. It's only a matter of time before the arcing fire nails me in this shallow cover. I scoot back out of it to try and find a better spot. Then I get nailed in the side from 9 o'clock. Death #3.

One of the enemy team is an off-duty Marine who likes aggressive flanking even more than me. He charged the position from our left with heavy supporting fire from his team. He ran up over the rocks and pegged at least two of the guys on my team and then me. He got shot in the process (we think it was friendly fire). The guy to my right gets hit and we're done. Totally skunked. I'm not sure if we hit anybody. I know I didn't.

Result: Defeat
Deaths: 1
Kills: 0

Pros:
-I had a nice forward observation post and spotted movement early.
-I've been having a bit too much success, and needed a reminder that this is still my first game, and I'm still a total newb.

Cons:
-I had a nice forward EXPOSED position and totally blew my cover on some long-ball shots I didn't have a prayer of hitting anything with (not even sure the paint would have broken if I DID hit). Then I (deservingly) got a hot crossfire for it. Those bright orange balls probably made it really easy to see exactly where I was. I jumped the gun like a total newb and was neutralized for almost the entire engagement. Doh!
-There's a reason I like moving. Those fixed defensive positions really aren't that good. Especially when you blow your cover - stupid...

Round Five: Alamo

Next game was Alamo again - only with different defensive positions. The defenders picked a much more inaccessible raised hill of boulders. I was on attack this time.

Not much to say on this one. Me and another teammate managed to infiltrate up to the hill's base with tree cover on the flank. I was climbing up the rocks behind the defenders and had a clear shot on one of them when he got hit by someone else, and the game ended before I ever fired a shot.

Result: Victory
Deaths: 0
Kills: 0

Pros:
-Flanking still works, so does stealth.

Cons:
-I was climbing cliffs right above a highway. While it wasn't dangerous climbing, I could have dislodged a rock onto the road below and endangered motorists. Besides, I've learned in research since then, we're not supposed to discharge our weapons within 150 feet of any "structure" according to Forest Service guidelines - which includes roads apparently. Not good citizenship on my part.

Round Six: Foxes and Hounds

Final game was "Foxes and Hounds" where four "foxes" would go hide and the "hounds" would go find them. Simple.

I took another guy and went on left flank (for a change) scouting. We'd seen a pile of branches moving off to the right and figured someone was in there (the Forest Service had made dozens of branch piles while clearing trees for fire-prevention - which made great bunkers the entire day). It turned out to be Marine-guy and he got three kills on my other teammates. But his ambush was off to the right and didn't affect my partner and I at all.

We got up close to a long exposed boulder and tried to go around it. We immediately took heavy fire. Tried to go around both sides of the long boulder and envelope. But my partner was taken out. At this point the "fox" charged me. I tried to take cover behind a branch pile, but he ran around and bunkered me. Death #4.

Result: Victory
Deaths: 1
Kills: 0

Pros:
-Not much really. I found that scouting a single guy playing a "sniper" sort of role is a lot different than scouting an opposing fire team.

Cons:
-His ambush on us worked pretty well. He got quickly taken out after killing me because his team wasn't really covering his flank like they'd planned. But he pinned us down and we didn't have much of a response except to cower there until he bunkered us. -Gotta have a plan. We didn't - so we lost.
-Time was still on our side. A strategic withdrawal might have been in order. At the very least we should have laid down suppressing fire on him and tried to flank.
-I found I'm not all that great at handling a fixed gun battle. He was just better than us and he got us.

End of the game, and end of the day for me. I had used up about an estimated 750 rounds in almost four hours of play. Bonus for my wallet in the future! Never used the full-auto or three burst modes of fire the entire day (except during a brief target firing session).

Total Deaths: 4
Total Kills: 4 (5?)

Post-game notes:
The Smart Parts SP-1 is a fabulous little gun (not that I'm experienced enough to have much of an opinion). With an electronic hopper (think it was a Spyder Fasta), it put out ammo just as fast as I wanted. It could have been a decent suppressing fire gun if I'd wanted to use it that way. My friend had me on a remote air system because he said the CO2 cartridges tend to freeze his SP-1s on rapid fire. I found the remote cable a bit in the way, and I didn't like the large ammo and cartridge belt I had to wear. I never had to use my refill I carried all day (mostly because we took break trips back to the car between games where I refilled). I think I'd prefer to have my CO2 cartridge attached directly to the gun for better movement.

I also would like a much slimmer ammo belt with maybe two hopper reload cartridges at most (I bet I could get away with one in short game scenarios).

I was completely sold on woodsball and spent the rest of the week researching online.

I got a Spyder MR-1 off of eBay for cheap about a week later. I figured it and it would be a good starter gun (and later a backup marker). No electronic hopper at that time. I knew I could probably still borrow my friend's gun, but I thought it would be good to grow up on my own gun.