Mayhem..

Image by joedawson via Flickr

It's not everyday that you experience being shot but today whilst participating in paintball for a friends birthday I did several times! The day started well even though Google Maps gave me the scenic route to the location. On arriving I made my way into the parking area and watched as a driver reversed his car into another parked vehicle and knew it was going to be an eventful day!

My friends arrived shortly after the spectacle in the car park and we made our way inside the venue. After being debriefed and provided with the relevant equipment we headed to our first map - Aeroplane wood: Capture the top secret documents in the 'briefcase' from the crashed aeroplane. Once you have the briefcase you have to negate your way to the extraction point. I managed to secure a decent position and with my adrenaline rushing through me I eliminated three people and our team won by obtaining the 'briefcase'. We then rotated our base camps but the result was the same, although this time I was eliminated from the round after being shot in the leg whilst moving through the undergrowth.

The next map was Missile Command: which is approximately the size of four football pitches and littered with wooden barricades, strategically placed sheds, trees barrels and even a scud missile launcher. Saddam Hussein hid the WMD's in Essex?!?! The objective being to obtain the flag from the opposing base camp and return it back to your own base safely. We continued our dominance as we won a round and ran out of time when we rotated start positions.

From here it started to go pear shaped as we took our band of merry men [and female] to the more open maps starting with - Air Assault: which is open planned with a plane in a central position, holding positions across the map with the objective to again secure 'documents'. I was shot several times on this map and my team also lost both rounds convincingly. We were out planned and over run as they made use of their numbers and tactics!

We then moved onto - Urban: Rescue the man sized dummy before it falls in the hands of the opposing team, battle your way though hay barns, hide behind cars, tractors and capture the wooden fort to get past enemy front lines and take the dummy to their base camp. The dummy had seen better days but then again so had my attack plan as in looking to build up momentum for my team by displaying Rambo-esque qualities I was taken down, close range, forearm... Not good!

We lost the round and with the scores level at 3-3 the final round was to be the decider. I advanced early and ended up pinned down around the hay barn attempting to advance and secure a strong position. Concentrating on the opposing team I didn't acknowledge how my own team were doing until it was too late. The calls to return and defend the base were responded to with wishful shots that didn't change the outcome.

With ammunition remaining we finished on Wild West: which is just like a film set western scene, with shop fronts, chuck wagon, water trough and gallows. Instead of an objective we went back-to-back, pistols at dawn and the countdown from three started and as one sounded I slipped over and hit the ground. Thankfully I wasn't shot but I quickly made my way through the buildings and across to the opposing side of the map. There were people in the dead-zone (safe area) cheering as I ran.. this is it now, concentration..

I stormed through the building shooting but as I started to advance my own team began shooting in my direction. The Marshall advised to return fire so I kept shooting in all directions until my ammunition was exhausted and then made my way from the map. So concluded the afternoon and an enjoyable occasion that has left me with anticipation for the next time!