Black Karma

INTO THE FRAY…

As the weather finally turned away from the boiling heat of summer, we again are at our home field in the lush forests of Southern Tennessee, near Fayetteville, at Bearclaw Paintball.  It is truly a wondrous sight when you pull into the meadow that showcases the beach landing area and the edge of the game field.  One thing we all notice this time is two huge funeral pyres just waiting to be lit, and we know this will be another great game.

“Game of Thrones” is the name of the new annual series from the evil genius of MPP’s Ben & Bonnie Torricelli.  Each team works for points based on missions that are handed out at intervals throughout the day, objectives controlled during a beach landing, or keeping the other team from areas of the field.  Once again the fine folks from the University of Tennessee’s Paintball Team make sure everyone is safe.

Early on when we heard the initial idea of the series, we quickly agreed to be one of the “families”.  We are family “Stark” with the legend Paul Bollenbach being Lord Eddard Stark.  During the planning phases, we made sure to give Paul all of our different areas of experience with the field and ideas on what to do for the game.  Of course, we made sure he fully understood our mantra – “Don’t Suck.”  After a quick trip to a local eatery in Fayetteville for a great meal at Castaways, we began our intensive pre-game planning session with the teams that were with our side (and of course had some Chocolate Cherry and Blackberry Cobbler with game friends and foes alike).    

As we woke on game-day, the temperature was a brisk 45 degrees Fahrenheit (paintball Nirvana).  We start at Winterfell, a two story structure recently improved by the staff at Bearclaw.  At game on, we drive towards the Keep and the Kings Road.  As the day goes on, we see the field split in two with each side controlling their own half with little change throughout the day.  There were incursions, but each side pushed the other back.  Day one left us slightly behind on points, but still high in spirits.  Four of us entered the one-on-one tournament, and one advanced to the semi-finals.  

At dinner break, we find out that we will be the team attacking the beach.  Sadly, bad weather started to move into the area, so for safety, the beach landing is postponed to the morning.  This gave us some time to plan for the morning’s battle (and some more time for cobbler).       

Day two started out much the same as day one – awesome paintball weather.  We rushed the Wall with all our might (and paint).  This is always an awesome sight, especially with two huge funeral pyres burning brightly.  The only thing that puts a damper on the greatness is running to the enemy’s line and finally noticing you are out of paint – more than one choice word was mentioned.  We almost got the field record, capturing the beach the quickest – 8 minutes.  We combed the field for props, but sadly the other team had captured most of them.

After a brief reset, we officially started the second day’s missions.  Much like the first day, the field was spilt, but we were on the other side of the field this time.  Controlling the graveyard called High Holy was fun, until a few tanks showed up.  Playing cat and mouse with a tank is tiring.  During one part of the day, tanks had cornered our base.  We quickly grabbed a few demo packs and started running straight for the tanks.  Sadly, it was all for naught since the tanks had a wonderful firing position, with backup from their infantry.  Luckily there were a few LAW’s around to shoot while a few of us were live bait.

This is an awesome game and field because you always know what you will get at Bearclaw and with MPP – tons of stories and even more members of your paintball family.  The owner (Scott) and the producer (Ben) truly love what they do and always put the players first.  If you haven’t been to this field, give it a try – you will be sorry if you don’t.  

As always, all of our equipment performed flawlessly.   We got to field the Black Karma “Big Shot” this game – an Etha with an EMC Rail Mounting Kit and Metadyne launcher.  Much fun was had with this, at the expense of the opposing team’s tanks.  We will be back to Bearclaw Paintball in early December for the Moonshiners vs. Revenewers game that benefits Toys for Tots.  Stop by, say hi and feel free to try out some of our equipment, or have us look at your kit if you are having any problems. 

Be sure to check out our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/blackkarmapaintball) and our team website (www.blackkarma.org).