A Weekend of Travel, bonding and Grid Fighting

Hey all,

well it's Monday, the first day of March and the first day after a tiring weekend of travel, paintball and team bonding. Blackthorn Speedball took it's first road trip of the season; heading to Flagswipe paintball's indoor paintball facility in London, ON. We took off from Kingston on Saturday morning, originally planning to be 6 people in a van full of gear, but we ended up being 7 + gear due to a conflict in rides. It made for some pretty tight quarters, but we were off to London. To be quite honest with you, the ride was pretty boring, but the team joking and conversation kept the drive from being unbearable. The rest of our team was heading up the next day ... at least we got to sleep!

We arrived in London fairly early, finding a motel was quite the experience, but a suitable one was found and rooms were acquired. Once we dropped the gear in the rooms, we found a place to eat nearby and made our way over ... 2 pizzas and a pitcher for only $20.00 was worth the deal and the atmosphere was nice and laid back.

After eating, we headed to the field, there was construction that still needed to be done ... you're thinking construction with paintball ... what are they upto? Well in fact we were helping with the setup of Grid Fighters for the trial. What's grid fighters and what trial ... do I have you really confused yet?

Here's the breakdown, straight from the creator of the series:
"This new format gives you plenty of action. You fight for the "Grid" and to control it.Like hockey, 5 players will be on the field of play at all times and will be allowed to rotate with the rest of the roster in the players pit.

Once hit,you run off the field and let a new player on the field. At any given time your allowed to run out and rotate with a player as well.Out of paint? Gun problem? or if you just need to of change the game pace. The ability to rotate will make or break your ability to control the flow of the game.

Unlike other forms of paintball, while you are gun fighting with a opponent ,you need to be aware of the players re-entering the grid. Players have the ability to re-enter by running out by 3 different openings in the runway ,keeping the opponent guessing which one it will be. The runway allows a faster rotation of players and spans the end zones of both ends of the fields. This unique ability to respawn creates non-stop action and flow.

Like football the scoring system will be unique and unseen in any other paintball format.To keep it simple for spectators and allowing them to follow the match easily ,electronic goals are set in the end Zone 5 goals per side (there is a red side and a yellow side).The goals (which are small targets 5 inches in diameter) become illuminated when you shoot a paintball into the goal. The only way you are able to get to an area where you can shoot the goal is to push into your opponents zone but eliminating players and controlling the grid. While using "grid fighting" skills, the opposing team needs to be kept deep in the defensive zone so more targets can get hit. goal is set at a unique angle that only allows it to be hit from a small area on the grid

The game consists of four five minute quarters and you can score a maximum of five points (for the five goals)per quarter. Players are also limited to 2 pods of paint and the contents of their hopper. All markers shoot in semi automatic with no firing modes allowed.

This format will allow any player to shine as it gives the ability to focus player recognition on stats rather than popularity. The Grid fighters will track player performance and stats like ALL major sports and lends itself well to fantasy leagues. Imagine being a your player who no one as ever heard of, climbing your way to the top of the leader board. This format allows individuals as well as teams to shine, regardless of what gear they wear or what gun they shoot"

So that's how the game works, what field setup was needed? we had to assemble the runways at the end of the field, it's quite the task, but we got it done. They left the field at close to 3 AM, we left a little earlier since we needed the sleep before the game the next day and we still had some gun teching to do.

We went back to the motel, teched a little, and decided we were hungry so back to the sports bar we went and after a $20.00 pizza and beer deal we finally got back to the motel and to bed by 1:30AM.

The next morning my cell phone went off at 6:30AM, the rest of our players were in town and needed to know where we were. We gave them the name of the motel and by 6:45AM they were at the doors to our room ... it was time, it was the day we were going to play grid fighters.



We were playing against central ontario freeze, a PSP D3 team made up of strong players that have been playing a long time together, I recognized several as having played at CXBL events at GZ over the summer and was quite impressed that we'd be playing them.

We took the field and kept to within 2 at the end of the first quarter, it was hard, exhausting and my players were having a blast.

We started the 2nd quarter strong and kept the score close until about halfway into the quarter, then we started to loose some of our guns with technical issues and we ended up being short of loaners ... we ran out of guns and started to run out of players. Freeze capitalized on it and took up most of the real estate and a jump in the score ... needless to say we were kind of out of luck in the pits and were unsure what to do next. We started swaping guns between dead players and those waiting to jump in and tried to hold off freeze, it wasn't working so well and we were starting to take a beating, eventually ending up held up in our own runway with freeze players posted on our doors just waiting for us to exit.
We pushed them out of our zone and away from our gates, but the lack of spare players and functioning gear, we were running out of steam fast. We came out beat up and having lost, but we didn't loose our smiles, it was a great day of paintball that we are looking forward to doing again.

We started the long drive home back to Kingston and enjoyed listening to the Canada vs. US Olympic men's hockey gold medal match on the radio ... it's really hard to follow who's going what when all the names are North American, but it was great... GO CANADA!!

We made it home probably around 8pm, tired and some of us were hurting, but we will not give up ... we're coming back ... stronger and better than ever.

more info on Grid Fighters will be released soon, we can't release photos or videos until the official series trailer is released by Mr. Beaudin.

Please note: as we travel around this summer, we will be posting up more and more on our blog. Keep track of what we're up to here on the blog ... you never know when we'll add something!

Thanks,
Mitch

Blackthron Paintball introduces it's 2010 Sponsors

to start or not to start ... that is the question

Want to start a paintball team? 

Have an idea of what you're going to be doing as a team captain? 

How do you build a team? 

Read a little about it on the Catshack Reports, written by Tomcat, a dear friend and brother of Blackthorn Paintball 

Catshack Reports - How to build a team

Blackthorn past to present bio

Blackthorn;s team bio
www.blackthornpaintball.com
http://blackthornpaintball.blogspot.com/

In 2005, two players from the Kingston, ON area got really bored with travelling to scenario paintball events by themselves. They were Mat MacDonald and Mitch Sabourin, having played together since 2002 under various teams … they eventually decided to build a new team. Being refs at a local field, they had the perfect opportunity to review some of the raw talent that ventured to the field on weekends, and possibly build a team.
Mat and Mitch eventually recruited a few players from their old team, a few new players and were soon able to field a team of twelve players.

Blackthorn Paintball was born.

Within their first and Second year, Blackthorn was able to become a strong presence in the Great Lakes Scenario Paintball scene. Having attended and assisted in establishing charity events, big games and eventually becoming a field team for one of the greatest scenario paintball facilities in Ontario and possibly all of Canada. Unfortunately the facility closed it’s doors the same year, but Blackthorn, now running full steam ahead, returned home to Ground Zero paintball in Gananoque, ON.

With the support of Ground Zero Paintball (www.gzpaintball.ca), Blackthorn continued to try to bring innovation to the scenario paintball world by developing the Offensive Action Scenario Series (OASS). The series unfortunately strayed from its intended format, but became the leading 10 man Scenario paintball series in Canada in 2008.

For the 2009 season, Blackthorn lost one of its founding members, having moved out to Western Canada, Mat became Blackthorn’s online resource and a connection to a new cross canada series (CWC) which onatrio threw ground zero paintball will now be a member in. However, the team as a whole decided to push on and try to concentrate on the Speedball side of paintball for the season, rebuilding the team and trying to establish itself as a newer face in the speedball community. Along the way we were able to sign some major sponsors such as: YouScared? (www.youscared.com)clothing - Interesting clothing designs that are cutting edge and that always ask the question ... you scared ? Fluid (www.livefluid.com) Muscle Recovery - along with some of the leading paintball and other intense sport teams in their respective leagues, Fluid muscle recovery helps athletes stay on top of their game by allowing their muscles to get back in the game faster. SPY (www.spyoptic.com) optics - Some of the best eyewear on the market. Durable, fashionable and above all ... just really really cool looking. EPIC (www.epicstealthcam.com) stealth cams - a great advance in technology, we'll be using the stealth cams at the end of the 09 season and well into 2010. Inner-Cooler (www.inner-cooler.net) Performance Wrap - We may be in Canada, but it isn't always cold up here. During the summer months, it can get really warm running around in the woods. We will be using inner-cooler wraps throughout the rest of 09 and into 2010.

In August of 2009, Blackthorn’s founding members were reunited, Mat returned from out West and when he arrived, it was decided that we should return to what we are good at, while still building on our gains in speedball. Starting from scratch, Blackthorn is currently rebuilding it’s woodsball/scenario/milsim presence into what it once was … and possibly more.

For the 2010 season, Blackthorn will once again be bringing innovation to the woodsball/scenario/milsim scene in a way never seen in Ontario. We will be venturing further than we have yet, expanding our field experiences and playing some of the best games in Canada and the United States.

Keep an eye on Blackthorn throughout the 2009-2010 season, while we rebuild into a better version of ourselves and look forward to what we will be bringing to all the players in 2010…

tactik field review vid

Video review of tactik paintball by Blackthorn ... same video as below, different cuts and no music ... missed something in my version ... check it out here

TACTIK FIELD REVIEW

Blackthorn recently had the privilege to attend Tactik paintball August big game "urban warfare". On August 22 blackthorn rolled out to Tactik in Gatineau, Quebec to play a scenario, on arriving blackthorn had the opportunity to do our first field review at Tactik paintball.

First a little background about blackthorn and playing at the Tactik field. Backthorn has now gone to almost every big game Tactik has held over the last 3 years with hitting at least 3 games per season now. Tactik is a rare field owned and run by a rare owner, by rare i mean someone who loves the sport and is more about making a player experience memorable then about profits.

Now blackthorn has recently decided to get more of an online presence and to focus on our roots of woodsball, Milsim and Tactik has been apart of that since the inception of the team. So its only fitting that our first ever field review for our online presence be on Tactik. Now blackthorn has a full video of the field review and some more on just the urban warfare event,.

This small blog is basically showing the criteria we set forth in our field rating. so before i go into the criteria please watch the vids added and again thank you for your support and watching

now zero stars would be worst and 5 would be best

criteria : field/staff/owner/blackthorn vote

Field Review:
This is basically the overall structure and layout and basic maintenance of the field and creativity and playability 5 key points each with zero fill of star to full star to make the 5 tier star system

TACTIK FIELD

Structure: all field parts are well built and very safe (full star)

Layout: all fields are laid out with easy access to one another and very close to clubhouse (FS)

Basic Maintenance: all fields are clear well maintain and in safe repair (full star)

Creativity:village /plane /train /cartel /tower /city /fortress /woods /urban amazing(FS)

Playability: with there blend of urban and woods the fields alone or part of a scenario play play amazing and game flow is unmatched at Tactik with time flying by while playing the fields(FS)

overall 5 stars out of 5

Staff Review:
This criteria is key to a player experience, we sectioned it off into this system. on field fairness, speed at paint and air/co2 fill, on field vision and safety, personality, game flow and knowledge

TACTIK STAFF

Fairness: the Tactik refs hear out off points and make calls based on all knowledge (full star)

Speed: the staff has separate player Manning a separate both for both paint and air (fast) (FS)

Vision & Safety: Tactik staff are very fast at getting to any situation and all have full ref training and always 10 plus refs around field and all under radio contact (Full Star)

Personality: not only do most speak both English and french but all info is relayed in both also very nice and personable staff who are all polite and well mannered at all times (FS)

Knowledge and Game flow: all staff are pre briefed and the game is pre run before event so that all staff know there roles for the scenario down packed always flows nice at Tactik (FS)

5 stars out of 5

Owner Review:
This criteria is special for us as most review don't take owners into account, Blackthorn has placed these key points as the criteria: creativity, personality, heart, knowledge, funds

Tactik Owner Review:

Creativity: Steve always has fresh ideas for his big games and field construction never a moment where nothing is changing at Tactik and his ideas and concepts are well done thought out (FS)

Personality: Steve is very funny and personable guy rarely see a owner go out of his way for player's as Steve does, even to us non member non regular player (full Star)

Heart: Steve not only is nice but he focuses on the player over his own personal profit which is by itself very rare in today paintball world and refreshing and nice to see, main reason blackthorn keeps coming back and will continue to do so (Full Star)

Knowledge: Steve knowledge of what players want is uncanny and he goes out of his way to make a player (experienced or first timer) memorable each and every visit (full Star)

Funds: Tactik goes above and beyound when it comes to funds in there pursuit to make the best field imaginable(not a lot of field have a real 727 plane to play on) also no matter size of event alway 1k plus of prizes to give out to the players and cant not mention the lunch included in gate fee is a plus (full Star)

Blackthorn vote
Last criteria is blackthorn vote review, this we base on all player on the team giving there own experience vote out of a star and average it to 5 star sytem

Tactik Blackthorn Vote Review
Every one of our member give 5 stars and not once has any of us been disappointed in a days event at Tactik. (full 5 Stars)

over all blackthorn review of Tactik was perfect and for this reason Tactik will always have blackthorn player attending for years to come

20 out of 20 Stars

Again this REVIEW is based on Blackthorn team experiences at Tactik, below is a list of events we have played at Tactik(for a non home team or area team we are very knowledgeable and experienced at Tactik)

Blacthorn game played so far at Tactik
operation medussa (generals protection)
night game
operation bridge to far (i was the winning general which should of lost lol)
operation blackout (special team squad)
customer appreciation
madness (kinda generals)
lost souls(generals protection)
urban warfare (switched sides to side that was being over run)
night game(oct)


reaper co-captain
www.blackthornpaintball.com
http://blackthornpaintball.blogspot.com/
mat macdonald


special thanks to steve mayer and staff of tactik for another great day of ball
www.tactikpaintball.com

Big Game Prep - Installment #3

Big Game Prep - 3rd Installment
time frame: a week minus 2 days

well, you're now 3 days out from the event ... so far you've established your living conditions and travel arrangements, you've determined the size of the bag you can bring with you ... but what do you put in it?

1. Check the weather again, this will determine your dress of the day. If it's gonna be sunny and warm, you want to wear clothing that's layered and breathable. Think cotton and lightweight sweat dissipating materials. This will help you keep cool while under fire. But what if it rains? A simple answer to that is a raincoat, but you may not want to play in one as most will keep heat trapped and make you warmer than you need to be, especially during summer rain. You may just want to keep one with your gear so that you can cover up when out of the playing area and keep dry. Also bring a change of clothes and socks ... nothing sucks more than being drenched and having nothing to change into at the end of the day ... for you and for the person who's car you're riding in (or for your own depending on travel arrangements)

2. Your gear checklist ... this will be different for each player, but most of the time there are some things you just need:
- Marker
- Hopper (or clips if mag fed)
- air source (HPA or CO2) - HPA is the better option, but both work and this isn't a discussion on the benefits or downfalls of either. Make sure your tank is in Hydro
- remote line (if you run a remote)
- vest (or pod pack ... depending on your setup)
- Approved Mask for paintball use
- barrel blocking device
- good footwear for the terrain you're playing on
- appropriate clothing for the weather and your style (speedball or woodsball/scenario/milsim)
- water bottle or hydrobladder (essential when playing in all weather, dehydration is not a good way to exit the game)
- cash (as most fields are cash only) for paint and entry
- Batteries for ANY electronic devices ... murphy's law states that if something is to go wrong, it will.
- your sense of adventure!

3. Some optional gear you can look at as a team:
- a tent or shelter
- cooler and ice
- bug spray and sun blocking lotion
- team banner, if you have one

4. Not everything listed above is required, but it's a good thing to have with you when you leave for the event.

5. Your Marker ...
This is the one piece of equipment that you need to make sure is working correctly and is ready before the event. If you can, try to dismantle your marker, oil or lubricate it and test fire it at an approved field with a chrono. This will make things easier when you arrive at the event, since you may only have to make small adjustments before being able to play. There is nothing worse then getting to the field and spending 2 hours dismantling and trying to fix your marker before being able to play. If you are playing with an electronic marker, and it's raining, try to figure out a way to make it waterproof ... garbage bags wrapped and taped over the marker work really well. Same thing applies for a hopper that's electronic, nothing worse than rain+electronics ... a bag covering the hopper may slow you down, but shrink wrap (think saran wrap) around the body and the lid individually will allow you to keep podding up without slowing down to remove a bag.

6. Make sure all your other gear is in good shape as well, this includes your mask and barrel blocking device, these are safety devices and most fields will look at them before allowing you to use them. Make sure your lenses are in good shape and there are no cracks or breaks anywhere on the mask. Your barrel blocking device should fit your barrel and keep paint from exiting the barrel if there is an accidental discharge.

Another important point is that unless the event is BYOP (Bring Your Own Paint), leave all the leftovers at home, carry a zip lock bag full so that you can chrono without wasting your event paint, but check with the field first to see if that's allowed.

all in all, this is when you should be ready to go out and have fun. Most of your gear is ready to go and your maker should be in working order ... if not, don't worry you have 3 days to get the marker back in tip top shape before you hit the field.

I'll be back tomorrow to talk about things you should do when you arrive at the field either the night prior or the day of the event.

See you tomorrow
Mitch