The Delphi

What if a Scenario Game had no Missions?

Words and Photos by Jason "foolybear" Lineberger

Mike "Voodoo" Shumate of Boss Company decided to answer that question at a science fiction scenario titled "The Delphi."  He pitted two futuristic criminal organizations, the Red Star Syndicate and the Yellow Nebula Combine against each other in a battle over advanced technology.  The missionless format made sense, as the crime bosses in charge of both teams were running salvage operations - trying to grab as much tech as possible while denying their competitors.  The capable reffing staff at Boss Paintball seeded the field with props, while the generals marshaled their troops to key points on the field where they knew they would find valuable goodies.

The producers took the idea one step further - some of the props could be used in the game to gain a tactical advantage.  For instance, grey power cells could be combined with a foam case to allow one side to instantly respawn a hit player.  Essentially, props could be put together to give a team a medic.  With the right supplies the generals built portals that safely transported teams of players through "wormholes."  Large shields found on the field gave users nearly full protection, while the Power Armor suit enabled the wearer ten minutes of invulnerability (and most likely a severe welting).


Without missions to anchor the storyline, the generals had to rethink typical scenario strategy.  Bill "Greenman" Ford, in command of the Red Star Syndicate, formulated the best working strategy, a simple plan to establish a forward line that would push continuously and grab as much real estate as possible.  The field at Boss is wide enough that even a team hemmed in towards their base can still sneak out small squads to flank around the far tapeline, but without the ability to move large numbers out of the base, the Yellow side fought an uphill battle.

The real edge in this game came from communications.  Red team had small but experienced scenario groups on their side who utilized radio coms with the general to move to key spots on the field and to relay intel about enemy troop positions.  With real time information coming in, Greenman could jockey his shooters to the best spots, while the Yellow side had to contend with frontline reports relayed by foot and word-of-mouth.  Even though Yellow made some amazing drives using combinations of Power Armor, shields, and portals, the steady push by Red kept them confined near their base for most of the duration.


From the Frontlines
Boss Paintball is a great place for scenario paintball.  Half of the field is stacked with hard cover and structures, while the rest has plenty of natural terrain ready made for those long stealth moves and low crawling sniper attacks.  The ref staff consists of experienced players who know the game and aren't afraid to get in the middle of a shootout, and the game producers are constantly tweaking their craft to come up with new, innovative approaches to scenario paintball.  My side (Red Star Syndicate) won handily, but I mostly saw action on the front lines.  So instead of giving my war stories, this time I'll let some of the key players tell about their favorite game moments.

The most interesting part of the game was the "Power Armor". This allowed one player ten minutes of invincibility. It was certain whoever was going to wear it, was going to be bombarded with paintballs from the opposing team. This prop caused havoc on the front line, and pushed back the enemy each of the three times we were in possession of it. My favorite part was hearing back from our base, once we unleashed our team player, the opposing team in uproar for all the ground they lost from that prop. We followed that power armor with more of the yellow team players, to hold the ground that we gained. Hands down, the best part of the game. Though seeing the players who were wearing that armor come back to base, they had more welts, splats, than I have ever seen on a person. - Mr. Savage, Yellow Nebula Combine Command Team

The Yellow team had control of the ship and had two players guarding the back approach.  My teammate and I crawled through the brush and took them both down.  Surprisingly, no one turned around.  I made a mad dash and ran the length of the ship.  I approached the door and was surprised to see a large number of players inside.  I offered my opponent nearest the door the chance to surrender.  He chose to shoot me from 6 inches away.  Lesson learned - I should have just bunker tagged the whole ship as I ran down the side.  Oh well, I'm out, but man that run felt great. - Susan Bjerke


 
During the final battle I was approached by a player that told me he was in radio contact with a player with the call-sign Reaper, who was stuck behind the Yellow Nebula Combine's main base with a large amount of props that he raided from it. He needed extracted through an area that had been full of heavy fire throughout the day. I gathered a force of about 15 players to push to the edge of the enemy lines, and continued forward with a force of about 8 behind enemy lines. We got all the way to him without opposition, but had to fight our way back out. After the game myself and a teammate recommended him as a candidate for Most Valuable Player to our General, and in the award ceremony we were pleased to see him receive the award for getting behind the enemy lines and stealing valuable props. -
Matthew "Col Mustard" Leonard, Shadow Dragon Paintball

The power Armor. I donned this poncho of foam padding, very thin foam
padding, twice during the day. Each time I felt like a juggernaut as I ran
into the lines of the Red Star Syndicate, watching them scatter like
cockroaches when a light is turned on. They couldn't take me out with
normal marker fire but that didn't stop them from trying! My welts have
welts but it was the most fun I have had at a scenario in a very long
time. At one point I came into contact with the opposing teams power armor
and we traded fire for a while and then realized we couldn't take each
other out and went on our way scattering each others forces. Seconds later
I find the plasma pistol that can take him out only to have it malfunction
as time ran out on each of our suits. -
Nymz, Yellow Nebula Combine Command Team

The Boss Company-produced game was very fresh and imaginative. The "Prop" orientated game was a spark of life amongst the drab military scenarios that have been countlessly played out over the years. I liked the most the storyline itself. The body armor, teleporting devices, wormholes, and very creative props that were collected for points, exhilarated the game for everyone. Scouring the playing field for props kept everyone busy between firefights. Awesome game! -
Billy "Greenman" Ford

Latest Intel:
Jason "foolybear" Lineberger next insertion will be Spartacus: Blood and Heroes on the 15th and 16th October 2011.

This is a two day game produced by Millennium Paintball Productions (http://mppgames.com/) that will take place and a great field, Bear Claw Paintball (http://www.bearclawpaintball.net/)

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