Early last Friday morning the team departed from its home neighborhood of Massachusetts, and ventured through the treacherous concrete motor-trails of the eastern coast to attend OXCC’s “Big Game” event. Overall, it took about a quarter of the day to reach the bountiful plains of Maryland. Though the trip was filled with whimsical wrong turns, flabbergasting diversions, and deliciously diverse rest stops, it was a great relief to finally anchor the field late Friday afternoon.
Upon our arrival, a friendly field crew member who we came to know as “Whitey” was kind enough to escort us to our campsite. During our set-up, Jeanne, another pleasant employee of the field, gave us a quick orientation about where the facilities of the field were and even invited us to use the field’s secret showers. This was by far the greatest amount of hospitality we’ve ever received from a field. At most other fields, they like us just enough so that we don’t get ejected. Even still, sometimes we get ejected.
The great company carried over to the following morning, where the game was started right on time, much to the pleasure of everybody in attendance. Not to mention, the vendors were set up and ready to go very early. Valken was there featuring a variety of products, including their clothing line and some Eclipse playing apparel. Procaps and Blue’s Crew were also holding a market stand, selling a variety of paintball goods.
At the initial start of the game, Brute Force (playing for the Valken side), headed to center field, attempting to raise the Valken flag at one of the field’s seven flag posts. Points were awarded by base-control, so either side’s best shot at winning was to control four or more of the bases as long as possible. Seems simple enough, right? Well, some things are easier said than done.
OXCC’s woodsball field is very unique. For one, it’s got several wrecked buses and other heavy-duty vehicles scattered strategically about the field. (Much like in the thriller independent film Paintball. Please don’t watch that movie.) There are also several foothills on the field, including one so long, that it splits the field in two. Only men with the strongest of stomachs dared cross those death-traps.
The most intense part of the field, however, is a wide field of waist-high grass. Mind you, this is no normal field of grass, but rather a field of grass with narrow paths cut into it, and trenches dug out in the middle. Imagine playing hide in and go seek in a corn maze, but the people seeking you had guns. It was pretty much that.
Throughout the day, Brute Force, as well as both the Valken and Procaps side, was fighting without rest. Mike Revelle of Brute Force caught some great footage with the 3 GoPro cameras mounted on his gear and body. Some of this footage includes a deer nearly hip-checking innocent players, sneaking behind enemy lines in a “hot insert” performed by Delta, and point-blank range firefights for control of the trenches.
Due to an impending 6-hour drive, and a couple team members having their health threatened by the heat (Kidding), we had to depart from the game early. Unfortunately, our early dismissal made us unable to attend the big post-game food banquet, and following party that night. While we missed both events, their praise on PBNation and Facebook proved our hunches that they were tons of fun and very enjoyable.
We had a great experience in Maryland, a state where fire sirens are uncomfortably commonplace, and little harbor towns built under titanic concrete bridges thrive proudly and happily. In the close-knit community of paintball, where we neither look the same nor sound the same, we share a common interest that inspires each of us to pursue our misunderstood passion, and for that, we are neighbors. OXCC gave us great memories and a great day of paintball, and we can’t wait to go back.
Major Thanks to our sponsors who without them nothing would be possible. Planet Eclipse for providing the best guns on the market, the super efficient EGOs, the face seeking accurate GEOs, and the economical pure paint-tastic ETEKs, not to mention the industries largest and most effective gear bags, and their incredible new 2011 Pants (which we recommend every player checking out!). Valken for providing us the amazing opportunity to travel to this incredible field and honoring us to shoot the most accurate, best breaking, and heat seeking Redemption paint!
Finally, our next major event brings us to our home field PnL Paintball where our brother team of Steeel Reserve is producing their 4th installment of Transformers. This scenario game is a must attend for New England ballers with Steeel Reserve’s known game twists, Greg Hastings attendance, and of course PnL’s awesome field. June 25th, 2011 be there!
For more information about Team Brute Force, our sponsors, and Transformers 4 please check out our website via www.teambruteforce.net
A big thank you to Team Brute Force for playing on the Valken team, and for this alliterative and illustrative after action report. Well done on both fronts, boys. If your team wants to become legendary, like Brute Force, email adam@valken.com for sponsorship information.
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