OK. So Nessy was so nice as to inform me yesterday that I owed him a write up on the performance of the Paradigm Pro that I used at Myrtle Beach. UGH! I have been so busy over the last few weeks since that game that I all but forgot about it. I didn't actually forget. Other things just took precedence. Anyway, I have carved out some time to present you all with the following:
It was a cool and raining early morning upon arrival at Adventure Beach Paintball. Having departed Virginia at West Point around 2200 put us on site at 0430 Friday morning. We commenced to popping up a few tents and strapping the generator down to make a basic camp site. With power flowing to the War Wagon and lighting up and running we decided that the rest was best left for later in the day, after we had gotten some well deserved rest.
Nature calls at 0830 the same day. I can't hold it any longer and it just won't let me go back to sleep. Meh, no biggie I suppose. I was used to making it through several days of BS on little to no sleep. Ti's the life of a military man I suppose. Having handled my business, I roused my traveling companion and told him that the rain was letting up, we ought to set up the rest of the camp while we had a reprieve from Mother Nature pissing on our fun! He gave me the finger and rolled over. I figured that meant for me to give him another 20-30 before trying again. LOL.
I knew where our forces would start. Dislocated and without an actual command post, we had a hospital zone to regen at until such time that we acquired enough field position to establish a CP elsewhere. With this in mind I decided to set out and see what changes might have been implemented on the field since my last visit here a year ago. Not much had changed other than the ridiculous amount of growth that was apparently left unattended to for the last 360+ days. No matter though, I could already see how this was going to play to my advantage. I pulled my drag bag out, unfurled, and unzipped. I gathered as much as I could from the ground and the trees. My woodland ghillie was going to need to be supplemented in order to blend more effectively. Traveling throughout the field I noted all the good firing lanes and best tracks for travel and movement. I knew these would play greatly to my advantages as the initial fury died off after game -on.
I returned to camp to find my companion finally out of the bunk. I gave him the rundown of what I saw and where we would be most effective. He nodded and went, "OK". (He was a first time sniper running my T9.1). I giggled and carried on. We got the remaining portions of the camp set up and went out for breakfast. The rest of the team was still 3-4 hours out. As we devoured our grub the rain decided that it was going to make another appearance. Unfortunately, the rain also decided that it was going to stay with us for the remainder of the day, through the night and into the next day (game day).
Team arrival went down as was expected and many greetings had by all. The remaining portions of camp were set and we decided to make a night out with friends for dinner and a few laughs. What wasn't so funny was what would come the next day.
As all players prepared to hit the field Saturday morning, the clouds continued to pour water on the venue. My team was rather frustrated with the conditions but decided that they weren't going to play in the rain and the mud that was plaguing the field. To make matters worse, one of our fellow teams was at the helm as the general and yet another team from our neck of the woods decided that they weren't going to play either. I actually couldn't believe what I was hearing. But, I wasn't going to let that stop me or get me down. My partner felt the same way.
Note: The spelling of the locations may seem to be full of typos. They are not. That was how they were spelled on the player's map.
DAY 1:
Lo and behold, the rain decides that it is going to cease just 10 minutes before game on. Although my team and all the other fair weather players had already made tracks for their hotels. Knowing our side was already at a 3:1 disadvantage I decided that it would b best for me and my noob to hold back and let the grunts do their thing to establish a skirmish line as the bird banger went off. As this situation unfolded I led my partner into the Pine Needle Forrest to split the 2 trails that would take the infantry men to The Fortress. Noob took the right side of the split and I took the left. We buggered in and crawled into a good position facing The Fortress, belly crawling for about 30 yards through the thick brush. Along the way we noted the OpFor's attempt to flank our position from the left but soon realized that the enemy was met by our own troops. We were safe for now and chose to engage the OpFor holding at the Fortress. Shooting through the brush proved difficult. But, we were able to score a few kills at 30-35 yds to help thin the numbers our ground pounders were facing. For the shots that I was able to get through the Paradigm Pro was right on the money. In the clearing, our targets hid behind spools, pallets, and concrete culvert piping. Our targets didn't give more than a head or a head and marker to aim at for any given shot. We eliminated at least 2 guys each through all that mess before our left flank started to fall apart. Inevitably, OpFor closed our position and bled into the forest. We turned to engage but only managed one certain kill before we ourselves were taken out.
Respawning was a tough situation as we realized our falling flank was the cause for our immediate elimination once we tried to push back into Pine Needle Forrest. Our second reentry met with different strategy. I took my compatriot with me to our rear most position along the tape line from our respawn location. We were safe for the time being but with no target and no objective. I radioed into HQ for directive. They told us to just go do our thing. So that was exactly what we did.
We traveled light and cautiously into the Abiss, through the Owl's Den, and on into Mithgarr far to the North. We met no resistance what so ever until we came to the road that split Mithgarr from the Hidden Forrest. Across the road way, The Trail of Dragons, we saw several figures moving through the foliage. Engaging them would have been fruitless so I advised my understudy to dig in and sit tight. Unbeknownst to us we were followed at distance by a few of our own troops that were about 50 yards to our right side, directly in line with the OpFor traveling through Hidden Forrest. Once the paint started to fly we would make our move. Engagement was furious between our troops and theirs, but it gave us the distraction we needed to cross the road with minimal threat of detection.
Once we made our crossing we got low and made ourselves ready to support the troops to our right. I came through the middle of the woods and my partner made way left keeping back 20 or so yards. We crept into a good position where we had the most targets in view and shortened our range to target to around 30 yards. I took aim, I fired! "Tango down", came the report from my partner. A small adjustment, aim, fire! Again, "Tango down". I heard the report from my T9.1 followed by the cursing and complaining of a player just 30 feet from left side. An OpFor we had missed on our initial observation entering the area had emerged from some reeds as he tried to flank me. However, My buddy got him first. As my sphincter loosened a bit I gave him a radio report, "Tango down.....*****!" We had a quick laugh but got right back to business as we crawled a bit more forward. Our troops were starting to break through across the road and into The Hidden Forrest. Though, it wouldn't last long. Respawning troops of the opposition began to flood the area and push our men back. One silly guy decided he was going to try and flank me again but he assumed that we might have moved up further than we actually had. As his head popped up from the reeds he took a good look around and thought he was in the clear. He was wrong! As he stood up and stepped up to a tree I shifted to my weak hand and "off" eye to minimize my movement. At 20 yds, how could I miss? I didn't miss, a the shot cracked home on the side of his mask he let out one hell of a shocked yell. However, what I had missed in just a few simple seconds was the other guys in front of him that had moved up and spread out wide. Once my shot went off they spun around to find me. My partner took down 2 but was overrun 2 more as was I. Eliminated once more, we stood up and bagged our markers to start our walk to the dead zone. The guy that eliminated me said that the ghillie was really effective. He had no idea where I was until he spotted my boots. As I looked down I realized that the muddy conditions of the field had caused the skirt of the ghillie suit around my feet to become clumpy and caked and not providing the most effective cover as it should have. Live and learn, eh?
Our closest dead zone was right behind us. We met there with some of the ground pounders we were supporting in the last skirmish. As a netted area we unmasked and fired up a few smokes as we discussed what to do next. We noted that the guys who took us out were making way across the road and into Mithgarr. It wouldn't be long before they were onto of our temporary HQ and giving our boys some serious troubles. We all agreed that we should finish up and reenter the game ASAP. Donning masks once more, we left the hospital zone of DZ 2 and made way back up toward the Owl's Den through Mithgarr. It didn't take long for us to catch the OpFor ahead of us. Easy pickings for the grounders as we snipers covered the rear and trailed behind. Radio with HQ told us that they were already engaged with a few of the OpFor that were ahead. We would catch them soon enough. Maybe it was too soon?
Not wanting to get into an all out fire fight I took my noob directly south and into the Dragon's Den, hoping that we might be able to find good cover and make an approach from the enemies flank to engage. As we entered the area of Dragon's Den we found it unoccupied but the OpFor flag was raised here. That changed immediately! From our rear, 2 walk-on ground pounders enter the area and asked me what was going on. I started to hear marker fire pushing our way as I told them to take up a position in the bunkers and get ready to engage. At that moment a stream of balls goes zinging right past my head as the familiar sound of close marker fire erupted from the surrounding foliage sending me straight on my back and to the ground hard. I yelled for them to engage and radioed my partner to head for the outlying woodlands and take a position with eyes on the flag station. I composed myself and put my hood back up. When I heard marker fire from all around me. I rolled over and poked out from behind the tire stack I was laying next to. There! Just 8 feet in front of me was a bunker made of tarp stretched between 2 trees. I heard the youngsters in our company calling out as they were quickly over run by the invading forces. Then the head of the player behind the tarp popped up! I rolled a bit left and angled the Paradigm Pro sideways at his dome. In retrospect, I kinda felt sorry for the guy as I pulled the trigger and blasted him square in the face! It was like watching the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. He was there, he was shot, then he disappeared. No time to dwell though. I rolled over on my back to be greeted by 3 markers coming over the tires in my direction. Wildly firing i put 2 into one guy as the other 2 lit me up like a Christmas tree in Times Square. So much for that encounter. Down side to that whole thing was that the optics on the marker took a direct hit at close range. Popped the glass out of the cover and filled the lens with thick paint. Clean up was about to go down for sure. I watched as I exited the area for the flag to get flipped. As it did, my buddy pops the guy on the flag. The remaining guys look at me like, "WTF?" I shrugged and backed away. They started to search for another, following the sound trail of the last shot. Then......Boom! Another one bites the dust! I start laughing like a psychopath when the guy that remains tells me to "Shut the f*ck up!". Boom!!! Aaaaand another one gone! I fell over laughing. As the eliminated OpFor leave the area a gaggle of friendlies enters the zone to flip the flag back to our color. My partner calls himself out and gets up from his hide. We do a quick fist bump and walk off field for paint and air. There would be more to tell of this day but it was mostly uneventful. Not too bad for a days work.
Day 2:
Day 2 was met with more trouble than anticipated. At the close of day one, our side had managed to get a foot hold in The Fortress. This was good overall as we were in need of a much better base of operations. Set in the middle of a clearing with surrounding bunkerage, we had a huge berm in the front of us and woodlands to either side of that. The berm had a pond on the other side of it that made long range engagement a reality for anyone stupid enough to attack from that direction. But they tried it nonetheless. We spent the entirety of the second day on base defense posted up on the berm as sharp shooters covering all directions as needed.
As soon as we were met with force it was apparent to me that the shot I had taken in the scope the day before had jostled the optics out of alignment. The zero was screwed! I uncapped the adjustment knobs on the XB1 and tried to make adjustments on the fly as I noted where shots were going squirrely. This would plague me for the remained of the day! I got my fair share of kills for the day, but not without much frustration and a lot of wasted FSRs. On the bright side, I didn't get eliminated once the entire day for this portion of the game. By the time we were in the last 20 or so minutes of the game I was rather confident that I had adjusted the zero back into a 30 yrd range successfully. Little did I know at the time how right I was. My best and longest shot(s) were yet to come.
Final Battle:
For the onset of final battle, our side was starting in the vicinity of the Hidden command post and the OpFor was starting amidst the structures of the town. Bang! Bird banger goes off and the only good tactic I can see is to try and move up the left flank through the woods along the outskirts of the town. This was a short lived plan as the OpFor though that we would likely go there first. They were right and we were quickly pushed away. I backed away from the area to let the ground pounders take on that mess. Instead, I opted to go to the path to the right and do some distance shooting as would become feasible. This was in error to try. From my position so far back, I was constantly yelling at refs to get out of my firing lane. Some would, for a little while, while others ignored me completely. So, unfortunately some of the refs got shot. They weren't pleased. Oh well, I tried to warn them. I decided to move up to a tire stack on the roadway towards town. This also would turn out to be a bad idea. I was poking in and out from cover to take shots as was a guy who moved in behind me. As he was snap shooting, he ducked for cover and accidentally shot me in the back of the head at point blank range. OMG, was I pissed. I gotta give it to the guy though. He was super apologetic. LOL. I retreat to the respawn post and stopped to gather my senses once more when I happened to see a wide opening in the boundary between the woodlands and the town. I moved a bit to the left for a better angle and there I saw a bunker in the distance of the clearing. 2 guys poking in and out from there giving hell to the friendlies on the road at the tire stacks. I popped out the bi-pod and went prone. I was guessing at the range as my range finder was back at base camp. I thought maybe 50 yds? I took the shot lined up on the 3rd reticule down. Being zeroed at 30yds would have put me there if I was reading the scope correctly. However, the shot was a miss. It was way too low and struck the bunker about 2 feet right of intended impact. I wasn't about to start messing with the adjustment screws so I started to wing it. Some quick geometry in my head and I was able to adjust for the drift. I was angling almost all the way down to the top of the line at the bottom of the scope. Deep breath in, slow exhale, hold, squeeze. BOOM! Headshot!! A second shot lands on the second guy's shoulders. The area in that bunker was clear. I moved in and made way to the tree line. There I found a sweet spot to sit in covered by thin trees, baby pines. At this range, 30-40yds, I was shootin' fools left and right. A few times I was taking suppression fire, but that never lasted long. I stayed in it for the duration of the game at that very spot and racked up more kills than I had the entire second day up to final battle. After the game, I went back to the spot where I made the 2 long shots from and measured it with my range finder.........68 yds!
Conclusion:
At the awards ceremony following the game, our general was gracious enough to award my partner and I the Special Services Award for our support roles in his battle. And.....we won the game.
Assessment:
The Paradigm Pro is a great platform. The construction of the marker is solid and the reliability is great. I never broke a single FSR in the thing all weekend. The sound signature is rather impressive in my opinion. This thing is seriously quiet for being an air gun. I can only imagine what a silencer would do to make it even more quiet. Consistency of the rounds at range is a little lacking though. I attribute this to the bore size of the barrel that came with this marker. Given that the .683 LAPCO on my T9.1 is busting FSRs I can only assume that this barrel is considerably larger than that (Nessy help me out here). Anyway, I would like to see a barrel for it that is in the .686 or .687 zone for diameter. I think it would go a long way toward improving the accuracy of the marker. If on the other hand it already has this, I don't know what to tell you all. From 20-30 yds it was spot on. Beyond that, it was a little sloppy. Still though, I enjoyed playing with it.
