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ION 2009: Now with pictures!
So, instead of going to Otakon, I'll be attending ION (Invasion of Normandy), the largest paintball event in the country which takes place in eastern Pennsylvania. For three days, I'll be slinging paint with over 3500 people as we storm the "beaches". The group I'm signed up with has about twenty people, so hopefully we will be able to go on our own missions (if command lets us). Luckily, we were able to sign up as the allies which means we get to get pelted by paint as we leave the boats. I'll be taking a bunch of pictures while I'm there and if all goes well, perhaps we could get a forum organization going next year.
Here is just a taste of what it was like last year:
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Has anyone else been to this or similar events?
Here is just a taste of what it was like last year:
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Has anyone else been to this or similar events?
Comments
Your's truly on the left.
We had a bagpiper in our boat and play when we landed on the field. It was pretty awesome.
Getting to the beach edge. Pretty difficult with 1500 germans shooting at you.
Furries were spotted.
Spartans as well...
Even Captain America
After the beach, we moved further into the forest. Our team was tasked with navigating the swamp. Here I'm doing my best to find out where the fuck we are...
Performing the Medic glove taunt
A couple of us loaded up into this APC, but by the time we reached the play area, the refs said it was too late to deploy. I was a sad panda
As night approached, the germans were near allied HQ, so we set up defensive positions and waited for the smoke screen to clear.
The next day, we were able to push the germans back and set up a decent front.
After going, I decided to listen to your paintball podcast and realized that the Skirmish USA (the company that runs these games) scenarios mesh pretty well with what you guys are looking for. On the gameplay level, there aren't really any rules regarding running or blind shooting. For ION, there were several objectives that gave points instead of silly made up games. The beach assault itself was two hours and required flags to be planted and defended on each of the beaches (there were six I think, with one boat per beach). Then after the beach assault, there are a ton of areas and towns (with real buildings) that your company is ordered to assault/defend/recon. The only real rules that were enforced strictly was that you must use the field's paint and you must chrono at 280 fps.
The medic system was pretty decent as well. For the allies, when you got tagged on the beach assault, you just walked back to the boats and loaded up to go back out. When you registered to get your badge, you were given a medical card. After the assault, all you had to do when you were hit was find a medic ref (who were usually really close to any action) and get them to mark your card. After three marks you were to leave the field to come back at your insertion point (depending upon your unit, you were either to insert at your HQ or anywhere you please if you were French Resistance or Airborne). I found that after three marks, I was pretty much out of paint anyways, so it worked out well (I could carry about 600-800 rounds in my rig). On Sunday, I found a medic ref near us as we were assaulting a town in Pointe Du Hoc that said as long as we came to him to get wiped off he wouldn't mark our cards, which was pretty badass.
That would be so cool if while this huge battle is going on, you're in a group that's just on some side quest to steal some gold or something. Or even better, there's a chest of Nazi gold, and you and a couple other people are assigned to guard duty for the whole weekend. Who knows where, when, or if anyone will come to take it? Also, you can try to move it elsewhere, for great awesome, and maybe a trap.