Tippmann & Warfighters FREE game review As a cash conscious Yorkshireman, when I saw the words FREE Game my eyebrows instantly picked up. Then to see those words associated with two of paintballs heavy hitters such as Tippmann, manufacturers of some of the most popular markers in the world, and from experience I’ve seen Tippmann markers used all over the world. And then Warfighters, who I had never experienced but heard and seen so much about them, Also having met Dave Thatcher recently I got on well with him and was eager to see just what he was doing that had got so many people talking. Realistically I just had to take them up on the offer. So best mate TC and I, got ourselves booked in, then found a link on the Warfighters website to a local hotel and booked that too. The idea was to get there Friday and have a couple of beers, so we would be ready for the morning. That turned into quite a few beers and a late bar, but that’s a different story. On the morning of the event we set off a little later than we wanted to after a leisurely breakfast, nursing poorly heads. When we got to site it was a bit difficult to know where to go without knowing the site, but a quick phone call to Dave soon had us heading in the right direction. Apparently the land owner is trying to sell some properties and asked for the paintball signs to be removed in case it put potential buyers off, for me it would have been a big tick on my list of wants when buying a new house but it’s not everyone’s bag I guess. Dave had tried to mitigate this by placing staff members where the signs used to be, but unfortunately was let down by 4 of them! Anyway I was directed to the car park and was soon in the back of an Ex MOD 110 landy, bouncing across the Warwickshire countryside. Having been out of the playing side of paintball for some time I literally only own a couple of markers, a hopper and a bottle, and considering the limited loader/magfed style of the games I didn’t feel it right to turn up with a Chris Lasoya DM9. I don’t even own goggles I’ve been away for so long, but Warfighters had thought of this and were offering free rental kit as well as the free ticket entry and free raffle (more about that later). Games started not too late by paintball timing standards, but more importantly following a chrono and bottle check. Which is something I’ve always been keen on, as anyone playing any of my old events will tell you. So it was good to see a site owner taking such due diligence with the safety of his customers, I guess we can still call them customers even when we didn’t pay? So we exited the safe area for the first game and straight away we were confronted by a Howitzer, an APC and at least two downed helicopters were visible and we had literally just stepped out of the safe area. The first two games were set up in such a way to give the uninitiated a good base knowledge of the site, first playing from one corner to the other and then reversing this for game 2 really did allow you to see most of the site and quickly get your bearings. Now the site is by no means the largest paintball site I’ve ever played on, and at first this did worry me a little. But it really did seem to work with the limited loader format, no surprise really when that is what it was designed for and what all their events are run like. There was plenty of cover as the whole site was peppered with barricades, none of which were set out so far that you didn’t have a fair chance of getting to them, but with some cheeky angles that meant even if you did get where you wanted to be, you really had to keep up your guard as the flow and ebb of the games meant if you weren’t careful you could soon be over run. This was a vast difference from tournaments and big games I’ve played where if you made a big push, the ground won would rarely be lost straight away, and that made for some really dynamic firefights. At lunch break there was a raffle for a new TiPX donated by Paul Banks of Tippmann, which was duly won by myself and I have to say a great thank you to Paul and Dave for that. It was quickly chronoed and set up, and I played two games throughout the day with it, a great bit of pure magfed kit and I love it. The afternoon brought another level to the games with the addition of a WIMIC Defender landrover with a top mounted .50 cal machine gun. At one point the landrover turned in round the back of me and I had no cover from the sights of the .50 cal. Luckily Gassy was on it and he didn’t see me... A single round to the back, as the landrover swung around was his penalty for poor eyesight. Some did try to out run the land rover and apparently one lucky guy even managed it, but he later admitted to being a marathon runner so maybe more training than luck. In the afternoon because the blue team had lost all of the games we were invited to mix it up a bit, so I joined the opposing team just for the chance to get my sneaky sneaky on, and take out TC. Moving up to the final corner I came round the helicopter to take one guy out and round the final barricade there was TC looking the other way. He’d challenged me earlier when I said that I had two players’ backs in my sights, and given them one shot each. He’s said “I always give them two, just in case”. Well that must have been karma as my first ball into his ribs bounced, quickly followed by another to seal the deal. Then I went over the barricade and was confronted by a fully prone guy and a view right where the sun didn’t shine, I couldn’t be that cruel so manoeuvred my way round to find a shot on his shoulder. I was then swiftly repaid for my kindness with a friendly fire incident, and the cosmic balance was restored... The only gripe I heard during the day was that there wasn’t any food on, now after many years of playing I always pack water, lucozade sport and various sweet things like jaffa cake bars, granola bars and sausage rolls to keep me going, so that wasn’t an issue for me but I can see how it could be for some. Dave did have someone ask him about it and I’m sure it will be something he considers if and when he chooses to run future events. Nobody gets everything right first time, but it’s how they take those mistakes and change them for the future that counts. Realistically though I think that was the only problem on a well run and organised game on a fantastic facility with some of the best military hardware I’ve ever seen on a paintball field. Will I be back, your damn right I will... TiPX in hand sneaking through the undergrowth! Thank you to Dave Thatcher, Paul Banks all the marshalls and photographers, but most of all the players who made it a really enjoyable day’s paintballing.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 16:39:23 +0000