Post by Gimpalong on Sept 24, 2012 11:39:50 GMT -5
A Note of Warning
This isn't your typically AAR, this AAR describes my experience at a paintball event. My intention here IS NOT to start a paintball/airsoft flame-fest.
Introduction
I had an opportunity to play in the Tippmann World Challenge paintball event hosted by Hell Survivors in Pinckney, MI on September 22 and 23rd. The event pits a "Tippmann" team (armed with paintball markers manufactured by Tippmann) against a "World" team. The event takes place on the massive, Hell Survivors paintball field which (as many of you know) is filled with hundreds of structures topped off by a castle and village.
Entry for the 2-day event was $50, and a 2000 round case of Draxxus paint was roughly $50. I purchased one case. Air fills for Co2 and HPA were free.
Having previously played paintball at a recreational level between 1996 and 2005, I came equipped to the game with a Tippmann A-5 with E-grip and a Tippmann Pro-Carbine that I dug out of the back of a closet. Neither had been fired since 2005 and it's a testament to how well Tippmann markers are built that they aired up and functioned fine.
Hell Survivors
Hell Survivors is well known as the premier paintball field in Michigan. Every year it hosts three major scenario events including "Global Conquest," the "Michigan Monster Game," and "Tippmann World Challenge."
I arrived at the event at 7:00 AM on Saturday morning and was promptly directed to the appropriate location to park. I gathered my gear and equipment made my way to the staging area. A large shuttle bus was available to ferry players to and from the more distant parking lots.
I chronoed by Tippmann Pro-Carbine at 8:00 AM when the "radar" station opened. I was one of the first in line. The chrono station had at least 8 chronos in operation and each manned by a single ref. All guns were required to chrono below 289 FPS. After passing inspection, the guns were tagged with a colored tape and my event badge was scanned with a hand-held grocery-store style scanner. Presumably my info was fed into a database.
I then had an opportunity to fill my HPA air-tanks and browse the well appointed vendor area.
By the time the 10:00 AM game start time rolled around I was ready to play. I did not encounter any delays or issues with processing players through their paint purchases, chronos, air fills, etc.
Everything was run extremely smoothly and there were dozens of refs (many with radios) helping with everything from rental pick-ups to air fills to parking and answering general questions. It was clear to me that Hell Survivors staff has a lot of experience handling hundreds of players.
The major complaint I have about Hell Survivors was their paint selection. They offered two or three types of paint. I selected the middle of the road Draxxus Fireball paint. I opened my first bag of paint and discovered a few rounds with large dimples. "No big deal," I thought. On the second day, I opened my last two bags of paint and found that nearly 1 in 3 rounds had some sort of large, nasty dimple on it. I mentioned this to a parking lot neighbor who said that a lot of people were complaining about the terrible paint. In a game where accuracy is largely dependent on having good quality ROUND paint, this bad paint situation was completely unacceptable.
The Game
The general objectives for each team was to capture various important locations scattered across the field. These consisted of strong points with flags that had to be raised or lowered depending on who controlled the strong point.
Each team had a general officer as well as colonels and lieutenants were were, ostensibly, in charge of running individual squads. These players, supposedly, earned "money" that they could spend on artillery strikes, tanks and other scenario features to aid their team or hinder the opposing team. I never encountered any of these players nor was I specifically told the objectives, grouped into a squad or even led by any one individual.
The game started with a "shot-gun start" wherein one spawn location was used for each team and the team advanced from that location. In previous games, each team was dispersed in various locations throughout the field by truck and did not always start in the same place. For some reason this drop-zone style start of previously years was discarded for the easier "shot-gun" style start.
When a player was eliminated (tagged with paint) they returned to their spawn/dead-zone and then recycled off of the playing field. The player then needed to walk a few hundred feet to a feed chute area where they had their attendance badge scanned to keep track of team points based on eliminations (?). After having their badge scanned, the player traveled into the chute and then into the spawn/dead-zone where they could re-enter the game. Refs along this route checked hoppers/loaders to insure that people were shooting field paint. Refs also helped wipe down players were had hits in hard to reach locations. They also reminded players to put their masks on.
Throughout the day, referees proved to be a great asset. They would temporarily halt play in local areas to insure that eliminated players could exit without being hit repeatedly. They paint checked opposing players and mediated disputes.
I won't go into the details of the game other than to say that the Tippmann team was almost always on the defensive and was, despite assistance from the Hell Survivors "Mercenary" team and the Blues Crew tournament team, almost always pinned back into 1/4 of the field. In general, the Tippmann team seemed to lack leadership and aggression. It's also worth noting that the typical Tippmann player was shooting an electronic "mil-sim" type marker with faux stock, etc. The "World" team was equipped with, generally, high-ROF tournament grade markers. It seemed to me, shooting an old, low-ROF Tippmann Pro-Carbine that the Tippmann team was seriously outgunned.
The "shotgun" style start meant that it was easy for one team to push the other team back into their designated "dead-zone." Once the Tippmann team had been ejected from the Castle Rock area and the Village it was extremely difficult to advance as players moving in one direction were quickly enfiladed. The "Tippmann" team never (as far as I am aware) pushed the "World" team back to their dead-zone.
One striking thing I noticed was the lack of range of paintball guns. As I mentioned, I had played paintball consistently between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s before switching to airsoft. On that switch I don't recall feeling that airsoft had superior range. At this event, however, it seemed like my maximum range was about 100 feet. To shoot beyond that required severe arching of paintballs. Some arching, of course, is normal, but even with "normal" arching paintball range is severely restricted. I frequently found myself thinking "if this was airsoft, I would be engaging those guys" when, with my paintball gun, they were far out of range.
ROF appeared to be extremely important. Major advances were only made under a hail of paintballs in which, literally, thousands of rounds were fired into a concentrated area. It was not at all uncommon to see streams of paintballs, 15 or 20 long, arching over head.
Conclusions
Playing a major scenario paintball event at Hell Survivors was something I'd always wanted to do when I was playing paintball on a regular basis. I'm glad I had an opportunity to play, but likely won't be back. If I were to return, I would definitely play on the World team and would probably pick up a newer, lighter-weight marker. Though the ROF arms-race was going on back in the mid-2000s when I stopped playing, it seems to have expanded so that nowadays each side (rec/milsim versus tournament) has the capability to sling a lot of paint in as small a period of time as possible. Light-weight guns (often weighing less than the attached HPA tank) are fairly common and "super-semis" like Angels, ECockers, Shockers, etc have been replaced with cheaper, lighter alternatives.
Contrary to the aggressive, "pain-ball" stereotype of speed-ball players (or paintballers in general), I found people to be agreeably and more than willing to chat. I got an opportunity to handle a variety of guns from manufacturers that weren't even around when I stopped playing. I even got a few "nice gun!" from people familiar with my "old school" gear. On the field, I only saw a few instances of people complaining or yelling back and forth. This issues were dealt with swiftly by refs who were always on hand in the most heavily contested areas.
Frankly, this recent exposure has made me miss the days when mechanical semi-autos, pumps and other low ROF guns were viable on the field. I had fun playing with my old Pro-Carbine and I even shot a few hapless people out, but the competition curve that separates those shooting $150 mechanical markers and those shooting $400+ electropneumatic markers has become quite steep.
This isn't your typically AAR, this AAR describes my experience at a paintball event. My intention here IS NOT to start a paintball/airsoft flame-fest.
Introduction
I had an opportunity to play in the Tippmann World Challenge paintball event hosted by Hell Survivors in Pinckney, MI on September 22 and 23rd. The event pits a "Tippmann" team (armed with paintball markers manufactured by Tippmann) against a "World" team. The event takes place on the massive, Hell Survivors paintball field which (as many of you know) is filled with hundreds of structures topped off by a castle and village.
Entry for the 2-day event was $50, and a 2000 round case of Draxxus paint was roughly $50. I purchased one case. Air fills for Co2 and HPA were free.
Having previously played paintball at a recreational level between 1996 and 2005, I came equipped to the game with a Tippmann A-5 with E-grip and a Tippmann Pro-Carbine that I dug out of the back of a closet. Neither had been fired since 2005 and it's a testament to how well Tippmann markers are built that they aired up and functioned fine.
Hell Survivors
Hell Survivors is well known as the premier paintball field in Michigan. Every year it hosts three major scenario events including "Global Conquest," the "Michigan Monster Game," and "Tippmann World Challenge."
I arrived at the event at 7:00 AM on Saturday morning and was promptly directed to the appropriate location to park. I gathered my gear and equipment made my way to the staging area. A large shuttle bus was available to ferry players to and from the more distant parking lots.
I chronoed by Tippmann Pro-Carbine at 8:00 AM when the "radar" station opened. I was one of the first in line. The chrono station had at least 8 chronos in operation and each manned by a single ref. All guns were required to chrono below 289 FPS. After passing inspection, the guns were tagged with a colored tape and my event badge was scanned with a hand-held grocery-store style scanner. Presumably my info was fed into a database.
I then had an opportunity to fill my HPA air-tanks and browse the well appointed vendor area.
By the time the 10:00 AM game start time rolled around I was ready to play. I did not encounter any delays or issues with processing players through their paint purchases, chronos, air fills, etc.
Everything was run extremely smoothly and there were dozens of refs (many with radios) helping with everything from rental pick-ups to air fills to parking and answering general questions. It was clear to me that Hell Survivors staff has a lot of experience handling hundreds of players.
The major complaint I have about Hell Survivors was their paint selection. They offered two or three types of paint. I selected the middle of the road Draxxus Fireball paint. I opened my first bag of paint and discovered a few rounds with large dimples. "No big deal," I thought. On the second day, I opened my last two bags of paint and found that nearly 1 in 3 rounds had some sort of large, nasty dimple on it. I mentioned this to a parking lot neighbor who said that a lot of people were complaining about the terrible paint. In a game where accuracy is largely dependent on having good quality ROUND paint, this bad paint situation was completely unacceptable.
The Game
The general objectives for each team was to capture various important locations scattered across the field. These consisted of strong points with flags that had to be raised or lowered depending on who controlled the strong point.
Each team had a general officer as well as colonels and lieutenants were were, ostensibly, in charge of running individual squads. These players, supposedly, earned "money" that they could spend on artillery strikes, tanks and other scenario features to aid their team or hinder the opposing team. I never encountered any of these players nor was I specifically told the objectives, grouped into a squad or even led by any one individual.
The game started with a "shot-gun start" wherein one spawn location was used for each team and the team advanced from that location. In previous games, each team was dispersed in various locations throughout the field by truck and did not always start in the same place. For some reason this drop-zone style start of previously years was discarded for the easier "shot-gun" style start.
When a player was eliminated (tagged with paint) they returned to their spawn/dead-zone and then recycled off of the playing field. The player then needed to walk a few hundred feet to a feed chute area where they had their attendance badge scanned to keep track of team points based on eliminations (?). After having their badge scanned, the player traveled into the chute and then into the spawn/dead-zone where they could re-enter the game. Refs along this route checked hoppers/loaders to insure that people were shooting field paint. Refs also helped wipe down players were had hits in hard to reach locations. They also reminded players to put their masks on.
Throughout the day, referees proved to be a great asset. They would temporarily halt play in local areas to insure that eliminated players could exit without being hit repeatedly. They paint checked opposing players and mediated disputes.
I won't go into the details of the game other than to say that the Tippmann team was almost always on the defensive and was, despite assistance from the Hell Survivors "Mercenary" team and the Blues Crew tournament team, almost always pinned back into 1/4 of the field. In general, the Tippmann team seemed to lack leadership and aggression. It's also worth noting that the typical Tippmann player was shooting an electronic "mil-sim" type marker with faux stock, etc. The "World" team was equipped with, generally, high-ROF tournament grade markers. It seemed to me, shooting an old, low-ROF Tippmann Pro-Carbine that the Tippmann team was seriously outgunned.
The "shotgun" style start meant that it was easy for one team to push the other team back into their designated "dead-zone." Once the Tippmann team had been ejected from the Castle Rock area and the Village it was extremely difficult to advance as players moving in one direction were quickly enfiladed. The "Tippmann" team never (as far as I am aware) pushed the "World" team back to their dead-zone.
One striking thing I noticed was the lack of range of paintball guns. As I mentioned, I had played paintball consistently between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s before switching to airsoft. On that switch I don't recall feeling that airsoft had superior range. At this event, however, it seemed like my maximum range was about 100 feet. To shoot beyond that required severe arching of paintballs. Some arching, of course, is normal, but even with "normal" arching paintball range is severely restricted. I frequently found myself thinking "if this was airsoft, I would be engaging those guys" when, with my paintball gun, they were far out of range.
ROF appeared to be extremely important. Major advances were only made under a hail of paintballs in which, literally, thousands of rounds were fired into a concentrated area. It was not at all uncommon to see streams of paintballs, 15 or 20 long, arching over head.
Conclusions
Playing a major scenario paintball event at Hell Survivors was something I'd always wanted to do when I was playing paintball on a regular basis. I'm glad I had an opportunity to play, but likely won't be back. If I were to return, I would definitely play on the World team and would probably pick up a newer, lighter-weight marker. Though the ROF arms-race was going on back in the mid-2000s when I stopped playing, it seems to have expanded so that nowadays each side (rec/milsim versus tournament) has the capability to sling a lot of paint in as small a period of time as possible. Light-weight guns (often weighing less than the attached HPA tank) are fairly common and "super-semis" like Angels, ECockers, Shockers, etc have been replaced with cheaper, lighter alternatives.
Contrary to the aggressive, "pain-ball" stereotype of speed-ball players (or paintballers in general), I found people to be agreeably and more than willing to chat. I got an opportunity to handle a variety of guns from manufacturers that weren't even around when I stopped playing. I even got a few "nice gun!" from people familiar with my "old school" gear. On the field, I only saw a few instances of people complaining or yelling back and forth. This issues were dealt with swiftly by refs who were always on hand in the most heavily contested areas.
Frankly, this recent exposure has made me miss the days when mechanical semi-autos, pumps and other low ROF guns were viable on the field. I had fun playing with my old Pro-Carbine and I even shot a few hapless people out, but the competition curve that separates those shooting $150 mechanical markers and those shooting $400+ electropneumatic markers has become quite steep.