Turn out: 4. Game Report by Mike Abrele

March ninth was on of those Saturdays that the weather takes strange twists. Paintball, at least the kind of printable that we enjoy is player in the woods & subject to the weather. Forecast had promised near 50 degrees and I think it was right, at least for a while. At 6:00 I was quite comfortable in a tee shirt while getting the newspaper. Around 8:00 a storm front passes through with heavy rains and a big temperature drop. The rain turned to snow and I thinking that no one is going to show up. Still, in case they do, I better get the staging building stove fired up. I do so as the temperatures seem to drop more, but at least its too cold now to rain. About 9:30, I return a telephone call asking if we are still playing. I look out the window & notice the snow is still coming in small flakes, hurdled nearly horizontal by a strong, and cold, Northwest wind. "Its too late to cancel, so yes, but I doubt if anyone will show." The voice on the other end asks if he and three of his friends can come out just to look around. Now here is an enthusiast. Willing to brave blizzard like conditions just to look around the field! "If you want to come out, we can play" I reply. Temperatures must have dropped to somewhere in the mid to upper twenties, but, because of the wind & wet, it feels much colder.

By 11:00, I've unloaded my gear & got the staging area ready & have started to cronie in guns. By 12:05, I'm just finishing up getting mine & three other guns ready. May need them. I hear voices & sure enough, we are going to play paintball! Started the first game, attack & defend on the bunker. The defenders (two) have to stay within 10 feet of the fort. The tree attackers can go any where, but need to take control of the fort within 15 minutes. They did. (About froze my finger tips that first game.) The game was such a rush we took turns defending & did it again, four more times. We also played one game of "zombie". (That's where everyone starts at a different field position & gains team members by marking other players. If you are tagged, you put in your barrel plug, walk to a position behind the person that tagged you, & reenter the game as his new team member. Walking dead, i.e. the name "zombie".) Best played with less than 10 people. We also successfully tried to games of "President". The idea of this scenario is, one team tries to protect & escort an unarmed "official" to a safe zone. If the official reaches the safe zone, the protectors win. The other team tries to tag the official. If they do so, they win. The official got tagged in the first game. The second game the aggressors wiped out both protectors, but the wily official slipped through to safety. Temperatures warmed to a little above freezing & the sun came out from time-to-time. Had some cold related gun trouble, mostly in the form of chopping balls. (Those three extra guns all came in handy) Everybody had a great day of paintball!.

You just never know what March weather will do in Illinois.

Mike