Now don't go thinking I'm going to start writing every day. Good lord I do have a life...I think...yea...I checked...Judges say it qualifies but only just barely.

So last night Spiro from Black Cat Paintball revealed his new game format, Scavenger Paintball. I had been working on the site for the project all week so I THOUGHT I had a pretty good handle on it. While I understood how the game was to be played I wasn't quite sure on how the players would react to it.

Well, react they did and in a very positive manner. The audience that was participating in the discussion seemed to grasp the idea pretty well and were very excited about this new form of paintball. The more I listened to Spiro, the more I found myself getting amped up about it too. Looks like we'll have to wait until late spring though before a game comes out this way and even then it will be a 6 hour trip to Pheonix. I'm sure the temps shouldn't be much higher than 110 by then so it will still be fairly cool...for Pheonix.

Even so, Spiro did mention that there may be an event coming to Cali shortly after the AZ game so maybe that one will be a little closer to home. If history has taught me anything about these games though it will probably be held in the northern part of the state...which, ironically, is further than driving half-way across another state for the Pheonix game...go figure.

Lots of questions were posted last night and the big one seemed to be team size. Listeners were curious as to whether they could still keep their traditional scenario teams in tact. The answer is yes so long as the team size is the same or smaller as what Spiro sets each Scavenger Team size to. So if you got 14 players on your team and Spiro says the team sizes for the event will be limited to 10 then you get to play with MOST of your team, but not all. I don't know how this will be recieved by some of the larger teams but I think most of the time teams will not get too seperated.

Also noted on the show was the new "Fisrt Strike" Round from Tiberius Arms. This new type of paintball has a finned skirt on it that improves aerodynamics and results in better range and more accuracy...or so Tiberius Arms claims. (Pictures of the new round can be seen here.)

The idea is not exactly new. The FN303 Less Lethal round is almost identical in design and I wouldn't call it a stretch to say the two probably are related.

So will this work? I don't see why not. It has been used in less lethal systems that have proven to be accurate. Range should be greater because of the added aerodynamic benefits. (I could go into this but the last time I did it turned into a three part series on paintball accuracy...)

All this comes with a price however...litterally. At a rumored $.75 per round the new paint isn't cheap. Because it is marketed to the Tiberius crowd who is already used to having only eight rounds in a magazine while the rest of us run around with 200 paintballs in a big plastic bin the extra range and accuracy would be welcomed benefits that would definately offset the cost. Also, as was the case with paintballs back in the late 80s where a horribly made, oil-filled paintball would cost $.50 per round ($.90 per round in 2007 dollars) the more people started playing the more paintballs companies could sell thus they could produce them in greater bulk and prices dropped as production costs dropped. So too could it be with these new rounds. If more players start using them and they become cheaper to produce the price per round will drop and it will be more cost effective to have markers that have higher capacities fire these rounds.

Time will tell whether or not the Tiberius round will be a success or just another paintball flop. The idea is sound and the theory is good but it will be up to the paintball public as to whether or not this technology, and the limitations it currently has, will be embraced or not.

Link: http://www.scavengerpaintball.net/

As anyone who has come to this paintball guide knows, I am an avid scenario player. My markers are definately milsim in nature and my play style is probably best described as oldschool woodsball.

Last week, I got the opportunity to talk for a long time with Spiro from Black Cat Paintball. For those unfamiliar with the name, Black Cat has been one of the top scenario game producers in the country for at least the last five years. He has put on some games and the most unique venues that I have ever had the opportunity to play. The two that come to mind for me were both up at Fort Ord in Northern California.

The first one, hosted back in December of 2004, was the "Night of the Catman" game. The "field" (and I use the term loosely) this game was played on was an abandoned section of on-base housing. If you ever dreamed of running around your neighborhood with 600 of your closest friends playing paintball and shooting up everything this was the event for you.

While the props at this game were lacking due to TSA deciding to confiscate them (as well as the event being plauged by a number of other near-disasterous issues that Spiro handled to the best of his ability) this game stood out for more than just the increadible playing field. Spiro, throughout the game, brought in folks to play "roles". These people were not normal players and not affiliated with either team. They acted out parts that helped move the story line and made the players really have to think. These role playing characters really added to the story.

In addition, Spiro threw in a couple of other monkey wrenches into the game. For instance, "computer hacker" players from the bad guys team hacked into the good guys bank accounts and transfered all their money into locked offshore accounts preventing the good guys from being able to "buy" important game materials like gas for their tanks or rockets for their LAWs. These kinds of "out of the box" players really made the game much more than just a "big" game with missions.

Now the second game up north with Black Cat was held about a year later but in a section of abandoned two story barraks buildings. This was also a very cool venue to play at (though I still liked the houses better because it was a larger field) but something was missing from this game. While Spiro still had his cast of characters, gone was that "out of the box" thinking that had been so important at the first game.

This is not a critique on Spiro...not in the least. The simple fact of the matter is that players, if they are going to pay full price for a scenario game or go through the hassle of traveling to far away fields, want to shoot a lot of people. To me, these quirks to the game are what make scenario different from everything else and this focus on firepower seems to be killing that part of scenario paintball. Producers aren't doing anything to try and keep that part of the sport alive...or at least not enough to keep it from limping along on life support.

Until now. Tonight Spiro is going to be on www.pblive.tv to promote a new type of paintball game that he believes will revitalize the sport. A product called Scenario Paintball combines the fast pace of speedball, the mission oriented aspects of scenario, the large field and small forces feeling of oldschool woodsball, and the capture the flag strategy of most big game formats into one type of game.

In a nutshell, Scavenger Paintball is designed to be played with a large number of players divided into multiple teams with 10-20 players on a team. These teams must then go out and find their first "clue". This clue may be in the form of a puzzle they must solve or a prop they must bring back which will allow them to move on to the next "clue". By the end of the game, and if the teams have figured out their clues properly, they will find a "treasure chest" waiting for them filled with prizes that they get to keep! The pirate in me is all over that. I'm just hoping to need a shovel...but I digress.

The catch is that there are multiple teams often going for the same clue and not every team will have the same "clue path" to the treasure chest. This means sometimes it will be better for a team to avoid a firefight with another team in order to get to their next clue.

If a player is shot out there is no medic but instant resurections are a part of the game so it is no more than a short walk before the player can return to the action. Also, because of the small size of the teams, each player can make a difference and players hopefully should be less likely to remain seperated from their team after reinserting.

Spiro has also mentioned that there will be a number of common flag stations on the field. At the top of every hour a ref will count which team is in control of the most flag stations and award them a point for "field control". With two field control points a team my "spend" them to bypass one of their clues and jump ahead in the game.

So, will this new form of paintball revive some of those old aspects of the game? I think it has the potential to. I think that the format sounds fun, intreguing, and different. Seems to be something for everybody...well except me with my LAW as tanks and LAWs are not part of the game...but other than that this is something right up my ally. It definately will require more thought than it takes to pull a trigger and people use to just running around ignoring missions and props will definately be at a bit of a disadvantage (though still will get their shots in). I think the other interesting aspect of this format is the Kaos factor. Imagine three or four 20-man teams stumbling into the same area at once all on the same quest for that next clue. Every team is effectively outnumbered and the firefight will be intense! I just want to see that the first time it happens.

So I'll be tuning in tonight to catch Spiro on Ryan's show and see what else he has to say about this new idea of his. I love my scenario paintball...but something like this may just wind up being the next evolution of that sport. I just have to find a way to get them to let me blow stuff up with the LAW.

The first event will take place at Spiro's Professor Lumpy's Paintball Accadamy. Information on the game and game rules are available at the scavenger paintball website, http://www.scavengerpaintball.net.